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Communication and External Relations Department
August 2005
Invincible!
ROGER FEDERER WINS HIS THIRD CONSECUTIVE WIMBLEDON
AND IS CONFIRMED THE TRUE MASTER OF THE CIRCUIT, SET TO
BECOME THE GREATEST TENNIS PLAYER OF ALL TIMES
1
Grand Slam Ranking
Mr
Slam
On the eve
of the last Major
in New York,
Roger Federer
confirms he’s
the toughest
in the tournaments
that count.
Meanwhile, Nadal,
Safin, Roddick
and Hewitt
jostle for
the other
two podium
positions.
Roger
Federer
O
ne man show. That’s
how the season promised to unfold. Many predicted that Roger Federer would join Donald
Budge and Rod Laver as
the only players capable of completing
the Grand Slam. But things are turning
out differently, as we saw immediately
in January when the good Roger had to
bow out to that bizarre phenomenon by
the name of Marat Safin, in what is still
the best game of the year so far. Then
our Swiss ace found himself up against
another opponent of the first order, Rafael Nadal, who got the measure of him
in Miami and then beat him in the semifinal on his way to winning the French
Open at Roland Garros. But as soon
as play was back on grass, Federer
restored the status quo. With his third
consecutive Wimbledon, he’s opened
Post
scriptum
2
up the gap again in the INDESIT ATP
2005 Race and also in the Grand Slam
ranking. After three slams, he’s the only
player this season to have made the
semi-finals each time and is thus way
ahead of his opponents.
There are four players fighting for the
no. 2 spot and they’re currently headed
by Marat Safin, who triumphed in the
Australian Open and then lost his way,
partly through character, partly through a knee injury which had to be operated straight after Wimbledon. Hard
on his heels come Rafael Nadal and
Andy Roddick on equal points. Of the
two, the Spaniard has the edge, being
the only one with a positive record on
court against Federer (two wins to one)
and definitely the new player of the season, to the extent that the Americans
have chosen him as the player-image
of the next US Open. Last in the group
is Lleyton Hewitt, who might well have
been leading it. The Australian is seen
by Federer as his most dangerous rival
(maybe because Roger doesn’t want
to raise Nadal’s hopes too much) and
in fact Hewitt could have been no. 2 in
the Grand Slam Ranking if injury hadn’t kept away from the clay courts of
Roland Garros. The long summer on
American cement (where two Masters
Series and the last Slam will be played)
will be the unforgiving indicator of how
the season will end, even though the top
spot is already assured. Federer in fact
has already secured himself a place at
the year-end Masters Cup tournament
in Shanghai: no one has ever done this
so long in advance.
So the circuit is split in three, with Federer on top, Safin, Nadal, Hewitt and
Roddick in the middle and all the rest
behind. In the second half of the Top
Guga Kuerten is back in the Brazilian Davis Cup team. In a packed
stadium in his own Florianopolis, Kuerten led his country to an easy
victory over the Dutch Antilles Rafael Nadal won his 7th clay title
this season at Bastad and his 29th consecutive match win on clay.
All time
greats
1
Players’ careers are judged by their Grand Slam tournament results. Here’s who’s recorded the
best results so far in the Open Era (1968). Roger Federer is currently way behind at 1526 but he’s
obviously got many years of play left in which to go for the summit of this peak as well. He’ll have
to maintain the winning streak he’s had in the last two years for another six years. No mean task
(Connors played and won till 40) but the Swiss champion is getting us used to great things.
4,999 2
4,577 3
4,406 4
Jimmy Connors (USA)
Ivan Lendl (Czech Rep.) Pete Sampras (USA)
He certainly deserves the title for
longevity, having played winning
tennis till he was 40. He clashed
with other great names like Borg,
McEnroe, Lendl, Becker, Agassi
and so on and always came
through with style.
In 2 place just a handful of
points behind, he started winning
late but then couldn’t stop. He
regrets never having won at
Wimbledon, the tournament he
always wanted to win the most.
6
nd
3,335 7
If he’d held out another couple of
years, he may have outdone everyone.
But winning his last US Open when
everyone reckoned he was finished
was already a huge achievement. His
seven Wimbledon titles and 14 Slams
are still an unbeaten record.
3,317 8
4,183 5
3,465
Andre Agassi (USA)
Boris Becker (Ger)
The highest placed player still in
action, although the impression is
he won’t be for much longer. He’ll
find it very difficult to overtake his
arch rival Pete Sampras, unless
injuries stop nagging him.
He didn’t have a great finale to
his career, which is a shame
after such a brilliant start.
This enfant prodige had all
Germany at his feet, together
with Steffi Graf.
3,304 9
2,840 10 2,426
Stefan Edberg (Swe)
Bjorn Borg (Swe)
John McEnroe (USA)
Mats Wilander (Swe)
Guillermo Vilas (Arg)
In constant rivalry with Becker, he
just loses out to him in this particular
standing. He won everywhere except
Roland Garros, where in 1989 he lost
a final he seemed to have in the bag,
against Michael Chang. His bitterest
regret.
If he hadn’t retired at 26 he would
be at the top of this ranking. He
has an average 122 points per
tournament, ahead of Connors
with only 86! He’s won Paris six
times and Wimbledon five but he
tired too soon.
In a ranking based on pure
talent, he’d be much higher
up. His problem was he always
played extraordinary tennis at
Wimbledon and the US Open but
never enough on the clay courts
in Paris.
Despite his technical limitations, he
achieved truly extraordinary results.
In 1988 he won three quarters of
a Grand Slam; only the grass at
Wimbledon eluded him. With Borg he
was the strongest player of all time
after four hours play.
His bête noir was always Bjorn
Borg. They played similar tennis
but the Swedish bear just seemed
to do everything a shade better. He
won on clay in Paris and on grass
in Australia and his single handed
backhand created a new school.
10 of the Grand Slam Ranking we have
the big surprises of 2005, above all
the Russian Nikolay Davydenko and
the Argentinean Mariano Puerta. Davydenko has been in dazzling form since he changed racquet (Guillermo Coria lent him one by chance). He reached
the semi-final in the Masters Series in
Hamburg and Roland Garros and it was
only injury that stopped him doing better on grass too. If he survives physically, he’ll be in with a fighting chance
of making it into the Masters Cup, given
a versatility that enables him to cope
well on all surfaces. Puerta is a different case, for he’s not at all happy off
clay and the clay season is practically
over, at least in terms of the top tournaments. However, the Paris final is the
Argentinean’s career best, to date, and
was completely unexpected (he wasn’t
even in the world’s top hundred).
Rafael
Nadal
At Wimbledon Roger Federer wore shoes with the rare 24 carat gold “microprisms”
used in the Golden Shoes that Michael Johnson wore when he won the 400
metres gold at the Sydney Olympics The Wimbledon specials broadcast by the
American ESPN2 network set up three years ago enjoyed record audiences
3
Grand Slam Ranking
Catching up with
Pete
Marat
Safin
Pete Sampras holds the most important
record though – the highest number
of Grand Slam title won. Federer is
ready to mount a challenge. It’s his key
objective along with the (more complex)
one of winning the Grand Slam.
Player
1
2
3
4
5
6
6
6
6
6
The magnificent 10
Pos.
Player
AO
RG
WB
TOT*
1
Roger Federer
SF
SF
W
380
2
Marat Safin
W
4T
3T
245
3
Rafael Nadal
4T
W
2T
237
4
Andy Roddick
SF
2T
F
237
5
Lleyton Hewitt
F
-
SF
230
6
Nikolay Daydenko
QF
SF
2T
147
7
Mariano Puerta
-
F
1T
141
8
David Nalbandian
QF
4T
QF
130
9
Thomas Johansson
4T
2T
SF
121
10
Sebastien Grosjean
2T
4T
QF
87
Post
scriptum
4
Pete Sampras (USA)
Roy Emerson (Aus)
Bjorn Borg (Swe)
Rod Laver (Aus)
Bill Tilden (USA)
Fred Perry (UK)
Andre Agassi (USA)
Jimmy Connors (USA)
Ken Rosewall (Aus)
Ivan Lendl (Czech Rep)
Roger Federer (Swi)
Grand Slam
titles
14
12
11
11
10
8
8
8
8
8
5
The other three in the Top 10 all have great
experience and are returning to high level play: the Argentinean David Nalbandian, the Swedish Thomas Johansson
and the French Sebastien Grosjean,
who all did well at Wimbledon.
And there’s no lack of competition outside the top 10. Even though the top
five players are fairly confident and look
unapproachable, the rest aren’t really so
far behind. But who has the best chance closing the gap? One name who will
soon be stable in the Top 10 and who
need envy no one in terms of talent is the
19 year old French Richard Gasquet.
This year he’s finally come out among
the greats and on the eve of Wimbledon
won his first ATP title. If he continues
to make progress in the second half of
the year, the number eight slot should
be well within reach. The long awaited contest with Rafael Nadal, also 18,
could well start this year. Nor should we
forget the Chilean Fernando Gonzalez,
in fine form this year, and obviously Andre Agassi, provided he stays clear of
injury. And finally, another player with
excellent pedigree, Juan Carlos Ferrero,
former world no. 1 and Roland Garros
winner. After a year lost through health problems, Ferrero is coming back to
levels more in keeping with his talent. If
he can perform in the tournaments that
count, he still has a chance of making
the Top 8 in Shanghai.
There are currently two charity bracelets promoted by tennis players:
Andy Roddick’s blue “No Compromise” and Tim Henman’s green “Give
and Get”; they can still be obtained from www.andyroddick.com and
at French Connection stores in London (www.frenchconnection.co.uk)
Special Ranking
INDESIT ATP 2005 Race
1
Roger Federer (Swi)
1
Age 23 – Race Points 910
58 wins/3 defeats
1
Rafael Nadal (Spa)
3
Age 19 – Race Points 699
54 wins/8 defeats
3
Andy Roddick (USA)
4
1
Age 22 – Race Points 436
37 wins/8 defeats
4
Lleyton Hewitt (Aus)
2
Age 24 – Race Points 254
25 wins/5 defeats
5
Marat Safin (Rus)
5
Age 25 – Race Points 321
24 wins/10 defeats
He dominated Wimbledon, having also won the
run-up tournament in Halle. Nadal had drawn
alongside in the top spot but the Swiss has now
streaked ahead again. The INDESIT ATP 2005
Race looks already tied up at the end of July.
5
It was clear that he wouldn’t be able to
stay the course with King Federer. But
he’s still a safe second and the American
cement should give him at least a hope of
closing the gap with the Swiss.
7
7
15
The Wimbledon final redeemed a season
that hasn’t been brilliant so far, for an ex
number one. But the top two are still way
ahead and he’ll have to watch out for Hewitt
if he wants to keep his podium place.
8
13
Federer sees him as his strongest
adversary but the Australian hasn’t won
a set of him yet. Perennially at the gates
of heaven, he will play to the very end to
make it onto the world podium.
9
12
A series of endless ups and downs. A final
at Halle, followed by an early exit from
Wimbledon. A knee injury has kept him off
court for weeks but his victory in Australia
qualifies him for the Masters Cup.
10
20
1
Position in INDESIT ATP 2005 Race
The real surprise this season, at least in terms of
consistency of yield. Will he manage to defend
his place till the end of the year though? In the
meantime, he’s got to no. 5 and is in with a
chance of making the Masters Cup in Shanghai.
Guillermo Coria (Arg)
No grand exploits, as grass isn’t his
favourite surface, even though he’s put
up an excellent defence. He’ll have to
excel on American cement to stay in the
Top 8 for his second Masters Cup.
Gaston Gaudio (Arg)
Excellent consistency and yield on clay, if
he could only chalk up some decent results
on grass too, he’d be a permanent Top
Tenner. But as things are, he’ll be risking
his position this summer in America.
Mariano Puerta (Arg)
Still on a high after his final in Paris, but
for how long. What’s certain is that away
from his clay courts, he’s rather out of his
depth. He’ll try and exploit the few clay
events left to stay in the top 10.
David Ferrer (Spa)
So far, a brilliant season but alarm signals
are already sounding. If he wants to
stay in the Top 10, he’ll have to go on
performing as well as in the first half of
the season, which won’t be at all easy.
Age 24 - Race Points 321
33 wins/16 defeats
Age 23 - Race points 299
35 wins/13 defeats
Age 26 – Race Points 282
38 wins/11 defeats
Age 26 - Race Points 255
23 wins/10 defeats
Age 23 – Race Points 225
30 wins/17 defeats
Position in INDESIT ATP Entry Ranking
Andre
Agassi
Agassi power
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
16
Andre Agassi is sill the best paid tennis player
in the world according to the prestigious American magazine Forbes, a specialist in these
rankings. And not only. Agassi is also in the Top
100 highest paid and most influential sports celebrities. He’s 49th in the Pay Rank and 59th in
the Power Rank. He’s also no. 23 in the Press
Rank, showing how much he’s appreciated by
the world’s press as well. Here are the top 10
athletes in the general Celebrity 100.
Richard
Gasquet
Nikolay Davydenko (Rus)
Under-21
ranking
Rafael
Nadal
Player
Rafael Nadal
Year
1986
12
Richard Gasquet
1986
42
Tomas Berdych
1985
45
Stanislas Wawrinka
1985
68
Gael Monfils
1986
74
Nicolas Almagro
1985
94
Marcos Baghdatis
1985
96
Novak Djokovic
1987
sport
golf
basketball
cycling
basketball
motor racing
basketball
football
football USA
baseball
motor racing
tennis
power
rank
2
5
15
16
17
19
26
33
38
46
59
pay
rank
4
26
41
27
8
39
28
19
50
53
49
Winning service
returns
Spanish Rafael Nadal leads in all four of the service return statistics, from points won receiving a 1st
and 2nd serve, games won receiving serve and break
points converted, thus confirming his killer instinct
for exploiting even the slightest chances he gets.
At nearly half way through the
season, here are the under 20
players in the Indesit ATP 2005
Race Top 100. The new entry is the
18 year old Serb Novak Djokovic.
Pos. Race
2
Athlete
Tiger Woods
O’Neal
Lance Armstrong
Michael Jordan
Michael Schumacher
Kobe Bryant
David Beckham
Michael Vick
Derek Jeter
Jeff Gordon
Andre Agassi
1
2
3
4
5
5
7
7
9
10
Player
Rafael Nadal
Xavier Malisse
David Ferrer
David Nalbandian
Nicolas Kiefer
Richard Gasquet
Christophe Rochus
Agustin Calleri
Potito Starace
Roger Federer
Naz
Spain
Belgium
Spain
Argentina
Germany
France
Belgium
Argentina
Italy
Switzerland
% break points
converted
49
48
47
47
47
47
47
47
47
46
matchs
played
62
26
48
33
30
31
28
28
24
61
Roger Federer’s Wimbledon victory takes his record to 21 consecutive finals wins. The last person
to beat him in a final was Jiri Novak, at Gstaad in 2003 The USTA has launched the Us Open
Series, a programme of ATP summer tournaments culminating in the 4th Grand Slam in New York
at the end of August and whose final will be played on the significant date of 11th September
5
New rules
Doubles rules
are being altered
to make tournaments
more entertaining
and attract the public
the game used to have
and still deserves.
Here’s how.
Worth
double
W
W
hat’s the difference between a
pair and a couple? Burton and
Taylor and Tarzan and Jane are
famous screen couples. But tennis
fans are more interested in doubles
pairs, such as Newcombe-Roche,
Fleming-McEnroe, then the Woodies, down to today’s Bryans. But
though doubles is still played a lot
in clubs, it’s lost a lot of its appeal
in the professional circuit. Which
is the fault of singles, which is getting tougher and tougher, requiring
perfect physical and mental preparation. Playing two games in a
week is just too demanding, so top
players are abandoning doubles en
masse, thus robbing the game of
its “pro-” appeal. The ATP is trying
to staunch this haemorrhage and
has decided to introduce some
modifications to the rules to make
the game more fun to watch. Let’s
have a look at them.
The most significant ones regards
scoring. Sets will now be won by the
first to reach five instead of six games, with a tie-break being played
Post
scriptum
6
on 4-4. Further, at deuce there will
be a single decider (ie. no more
advantage points) with the player
receiving choosing which side of
the court to takes the serve on.
These two radical changes will
help shorten matches and above
all make it easier to estimate their
length with more precision. This
will make it simpler for organizers
to include doubles matches in the
calendars of major courts, and with
the crucial presence of TV. All this
will provide very important promotion for doubles tennis and hopefully restore it to its former glory.
The changes were suggested after a survey was carried out by
the Research & Development Doubles Project Team co-ordinated by
Horst Klosterkemper, ATP Europe
and Player Relations President. The
survey looked at four targets: fans,
players, media and tournament organizers. Equal numbers of singles
and doubles players were interviewed and 4,837 fans helped with
the survey by replying on line (ATPtennis.com). “All the respondents
in our target groups thought that
doubles was an important part of
our sport. But also that something
had to be done to relaunch it. In
particular, the top singles players
said they’d be more willing to play
doubles if matches were shortened
to 90 minutes at the most. The new
rules not only meet these needs.
We’ve also found a formula to make
matches more exciting”.
Rafael Nadal, who’s played doubles in around half of his tournaments this year, said he was satisfied with the ATP’s measures. “I’m
sure that a lot of other top players
will decide to play doubles after
these changes”.
Now it’s a question of time. The ATP
has done its utmost to satisfy everyone’s needs and created an easier
and more entertaining system. After
all, it’s clear that if the world’s best
players ignore the sport, it’s going
to be difficult to make it more appealing. Even though young players
are keen, as shown by Nadal and
Federer who have also been successful in doubles this year. Further,
doubles tennis is obviously the essence of the Davis Cup, which continues to enjoy prestige and which
major champions have always felt
inspired by.
The aim will have been achieved
anyway if top players start playing
in doubles more often.
Marat Safin has completed re-education of his knee following his
operation at the Isokinetic centre in Bologna At Bastad, Rafael Nadal
and Tomas Berdych staged the first final between “teenagers” since
1999, when Lleyton Hewiit and Xavier Malisse met at Delray Beach
Personality
problem acceptable to both sides. I’m
leaving the scene just when big changes
are in the offing, ones that will hopefully
benefit doubles tournaments”.
“It’s a pity so many players don’t take part
in doubles tournaments. They say there are
fewer and fewer serve & volley players and
that this is because people are no longer
used to or confident about going up to the
net. If there was more doubles play though,
that problem would be sorted out in no time”.
“Lleyton Hewitt is the “meanest” player on
the circuit. I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t
like a shot of his “meanness” when they go
on court”.
“The greatest unrealized talent in Australian
tennis is still Mark Philippoussis. If he didn’t
get injured so often and had trained better, he
would undoubtedly have won some Slam titles and could have tried for top seed”.
Todd
Woodbridge
W
When I arrived at Wimbledon, I had no intention of retiring. On the
contrary, I was hoping
to win my 10th title. But
I lost straightaway! And
that’s how I realized it was time to give up. It
was the best place to do it”.
“I’m sorry I didn’t play in the Davis Cup against Argentina but it was a decision that had to
be taken on the spot and I don’t want to go
back on it. When you retire, it should be for
good. Anyway, I’m sure my companions will
be able to look after themselves in years to
come without me”.
“Fleming says the best doubles pair is John
McEnroe with anyone else? Not with anyone
else, I think. Maybe we could say that the best
doubles pair never actually played together.
The tops would have been me on the right
and John McEnroe on the left”.
“It’s hard to say which was the sweetest
victory when you’ve won so many tournaments. Maybe the first Wimbledon success...
In Australia, Wimbledon’s considered the
most important tournament in the world and
Australia’s best doubles pairs have won there.
Since then, me and Woodforde have made incredible progress”.
“You become symbiotic with your partner.
I’ve spent more time with Woodforde maybe than with my wife! I got on well with successive partners too but it’s obviously the
Woodies that people will remember”.
“Playing doubles so constantly didn’t
compromise my singles results. On the
contrary. In singles I achieved the best
results my talent would allow for. Playing
doubles enabled me to improve certain
aspects of my game. Playing a final on the
Centre Court at Wimbledon is an extraordinary mental experience that helps you
in singles, in tennis in general and even
in everyday life. They’re strong emotions
that help to mature”.
“Something certainly has to be done to
make doubles attractive for the general
public again. It’s fundamentally important
that tournament organizers and players
talk more often about solutions to the
“You have the impression of having to perform some extraordinary feat to manage to beat
them” Mark Knowles on the
Woodies.
A legendary
doubles player
who’s won 16
Grand Slam titles
and 83 ATP titles,
mostly with
Mark Woodforde,
the other famous Woodie.
He played his last match
at Wimbledon
just before announcing
his definitive retirement.
“One big regret we have? Not having
had the chance to play against the Woodies. That would have been great”. Bryan
brothers.
“What will I do in the future? I want to stay
in tennis. We Australians usually end up
as TV comentators. Woodforde’s already
there. We could relaunch the Woodies....
on televsion”.
Lleyton Hewitt married actress Bec Cartwright, who is expecting a baby;
there were 120 guests Big success for “The Agassi Stor y” by father Mike
Agassi, currently on sale in 14 countries, mainly in Asia and above all
China The ATP 2006 calendar is now available at www.atptennis.com
7
S
P
E
C
I
A
L
C R O A T I A
Having reached
the semi-finals,
Ivan Ljubicic,
Mario Ancic
and
Ivo Karlovic,
the top
three Croats,
are hoping
to make history
in this year’s
Davis Cup.
They have
an excellent
chance
of success
Mario
Ancic
Dream Team
T
ill a few years ago, if you
said “tennis” in Croatia,
people thought of Goran
Ivanisevic, a talent with
few equals but at the
same time a reputation
for craziness that was fully deserved.
Everyone else was mere background
– goods players, promising talents,
a few surprises now and again. But
nothing really out of the ordinary.
Well, Ivanisevic has gone (in terms of
tennis) and a void in his absence did
not form, on the contrary, an excellent
school of worthy heirs has budded.
The most outstanding is Mario Ancic, who really ought to be a permanent fixture in the Top 10. Born
in Spalato, in a street that’s since
Post
scriptum
8
be re-named “Champions Street”,
given that Ivanisevic and before
him Zeliko Franulovic were all born
within a few metres of one another.
He grew up with the legend of Ivanisevic in his mind and dreamt of
repeating the Wimbledon success
that earned Goran a place in tennis
history. “He helped me tremendously, always encouraging and advising me. And then his Wimbledon
victory. I was one of the thousands
of people waiting for him on his return. That extraordinary event has
given me a belief that I too can do
something like that”. He came close
last year when he reached the semifinal, where he went down fighting
to Andy Roddick. This year he didn’t
get so close, being soundly beaten
by Feliciano Lopez (“the worst game
I’ve played for ages”). Mario holds
an enviable record though, being the
last person to have beaten Federer
on grass, at Wimbledon in 2002.
But Ancic is just the tip of an iceberg, albeit the youngest (and most
promising) of the team. He has
other strong players who will support him in the struggle for the coveted Davis Cup, the ultimate goal
of the season for Croatian players.
Over and above the Slam, ATP and
Masters Series tournaments, Croatia is in with real chance of winning
the Davis Cup this year. It all started with their extraordinary victory
in Carson, near Los Angeles, again-
Ivo Karlovic is the player with the highest ace per match rate
(18 ) . In the ATP total aces ranking he’s 4 t h , at 450, behind
A ndy Roddick ( 564 ), fellow Croat Mario A ncic (493 ) and
Ma x Mirnyi (478 ) . The other Croat Ivan Ljubicic is 7 t h (430 )
GS CROAT I A
Goran
Ivanisevic
st a powerful US team. The star was
Ivan Ljubicic, whose performance
there confirmed the extraordinary
form he’s found this year, having reached four ATP finals. He may have
lost them but three were against
Roger Federer and the fourth against an inspired Joachim Johansson.
Having closed the gap with the Top
10, Ljubicic really came into his own
in the Davis Cup against the Americans. First he dispensed with Andre Agassi in three nifty sets and
on the last day he won the decisive
match against Andy Roddick, who
is even more dangerous than usual
in the Davis Cup. If you add to these two victories the doubles success against the Bryan brothers.
Ancic and Ljubicic then make a pair
that can aim for the very top, especially if they continue to exploit the
home factor as they did in their last
success against Romania, which
put Croatia in the semi-finals, where they’ll play Russia, again on home
ground. The only handicap for this
Croatian Dream Team is clay, surface
on which none of their best players
manages to compete at the highest
level. But as long as they play in Croatia, there won’t be much clay. The
Croatians welcome you with indoor
super-rapid synthetic courts and an
atmosphere like a World Cup football
final. Coming through this unscathed
is nigh impossible, as the French will
find out in spite of their highly competitive team and the phenomenal Richard Gasquet, who gets better every
Ivo
Karlovic
The Three Croat Musketeers are also in the Top 10 for games won on serve: Karlovic (91%) is second
only to Roddick (92%); Ancic and Ljubicic are level 7th (86%) Karlovic is in 1st place in terms of points won
on first serve (82%) together with Australian Wayne Arthurs Karlovic’s record for games won against
serve isn’t so great: only 6%. Next in this ranking are Wayne Arthurs (11%) and Gilles Muller (13%)
9
GS CROAT I A
The Three Musketeers
Croatia’s hopes of winning the Davis Cup hang on three players:
Ivan Ljubicic, Mario Ancic and Ivo Karlovic.
Ivan Ljubicic
Mario Ancic
Ivo Karlovic
Age 26 – 33 wins/15 defeats
INDESIT ATP 2005 Race 13
Age 21 – 31 wins/16 defeats
INDESIT ATP 2005 Race 16
Age 26 – 10 wins/15 defeats
INDESIT ATP 2005 Race 70
This is his best season to date.
He’s reached four finals, pity three
of them were against a certain
Roger Federer. Now is not his
high point because grass and clay
aren’t his favourite surfaces. But
back on American cement he’ll be
bad news for all contenders.
After last year’s Wimbledon semi-final,
we were expecting to see him in the
world Top 10. But Mario is making heavy
weather of it this year, even though he won
at ‘s-Hertogenbosch and was a finalist at
Scottsdale. But he didn’t get past the 4th
round at Wimbledon, which was to have
been the key tournament of his season.
Ladies & Gentleman, here is the circuit’s
most extraordinary serve. No one wants
to meet him on fast surfaces because it’s
practically impossible to break him. He
chalks up an average 18 aces a match and
holds serve at a rate of 92%. He’s a little
weak on returning serves though and only
manages a 6% success rate in breaking.
week. This is Croatia’s big chance,
a once in a life time opportunity
they have no intention of wasting.
Especially now that the top two
have found a worthy substitute.
Playing three matches in three days
isn’t simple and injury is always lurking, ready to transform a dream
into a nightmare. The new discovery is Ivo Karlovic, a player that any
talent scout would have signed up
for basketball. Over 2 metres 5 cm,
he’s the tallest player on the circuit
and without a shadow of a doubt the
most terrifying serve in the world.
On fast surfaces, his matches are
impossible to bet on. A tie-break is
almost inevitable and when a match hangs on 2 or 3 points it can go
either way, whichever way fortune
smiles. Karlovic the classic outsider: he’s currently world no. 70 but
is quite capable of beating the likes
of Lleyton Hewitt (Australia are favourites for the Davis Cup final), as
happened on grass at the Queen’s.
So those are the three Croatian
musketeers going for tennis’s most
prestigious trophy, the equivalent of
the World Championships in other
sports. Croatia is just two short
steps away from entering the history books, two steps that Ancic &
Co. are perfectly capable of taking.
The next step is on 23rd September
when the semi-finals will be played.
Then Croatia really would be close to achieving one of the greatest
sporting achievements in its history.
Ivan Ljubicic
Post
scriptum
10
Thereareonlythreeplayerswho’vewontheUmagtournamentandgoneontobecome
world no. 1: Carlos Moya, Thomas Muster and Marcelo Rios Carlos Moya has won
the ATP Umag tournament four times. Thomas Muster follows with three wins Ivan
Ljubicic has won 31 matches this year, making him no. 7 in the matches won ranking
Ivo Karlovic
Ivan Ljubicic
Aceman
*sum of top three players in the INDESIT
ATP Entry Ranking
Nation
Croatia’s top three players
have one thing in common
– an extremely punishing
serve. Just look at the ace
statistics.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Player
Ivo Karlovic
Wayne Arthurs
Joachim Johansson
Andy Roddick
Mark Philippoussis
Max Mirnyi
Mario Ancic
Lleyton Hewitt
Greg Rusedski
Ivan Ljubicic
Nat.
Cro
Aus
Swe
USA
Aus
Bie
Cro
Aus
UK
Cro
Ace
per match
18
15.1
13.5
13.1
12.3
12
11.2
10.2
10.2
9.8
National
rankings
Argentina still heads the
rankings, followed by the
USA and Russia. Spain was
ousted from the podium in
spite of Rafael Nadal.
1
Argentina
30
2
Russia
37
3
Spain
39
4
USA
40
5
Sweden
62
6
Czech Rep.
79
7
France
102
8
Germany
117
9
Croatia
124
10
Belgium
145
The Croatian team celebrates after having beaten
the USA in Davis Cup
Davis Cup Ranking
Croatia has it sights on the Davis Cup this year after its brilliant
away victory against the USA. Its
recent wins have sent the country
up through the rankings and into
the Top 10.
Nazione
Marin Cilic
New talents
punti
Points*
Player
Nation
Born
Points
1
Spain
27.225
1
Donald Young
USA
1989
1437.50
2
Australia
19.000
2
Marin Cilic
Cro
1989
948.75
3
Russia
17.925
3
Leonardo Mayer
Arg
1987
946.25
4
France
17.375
4
Sun-Yong Kim Jr.
Kor
1987
921.25
5
Argentina
13.825
5
Jeremy Chardy
Fra
1987
857.50
6
USA
13.210
6
Niels Desein
Bel
1987
786.25
7
Croatia
9.475
7
Robin Haase
Neth
1987
755.00
8
Slovakia
8.377,5
8
Sergei Bubka
Ukr
1987
741.25
9
Switzerland
6.359,4
9
Petar Jelenic
Cro
1987
716.25
10
Belarus
6.118,1
10
Timothy Neilly
USA
1987
667.50
Croatian tennis is not
just Ancic & Co. New
talents are lining up
behind them, and
first in the queue is 16
year-old Marin Cilic,
who lives in Zagabria
and won the junior title
at Roland Garros this
year, which sent him
to no. 2 in the world
junior rankings. In the
Paris semi-final he
beat a certain Andrew
Murray, who went on
to do well at Wimbledon, in the “adult”
category though. The
young Croat’s win
in Paris showed us
exactly what he’s capable of. Behind him
there’s Petar Jelenic,
18, from Spalato, no.
9 in the world junior
ranking. This year he
won the Bonfiglo Cup
in Milan (ITF Grade A
tournament) and lost
in the final, on grass,
at Roehampton to...
Marin
Cilic.
These are the two best
prospects Croatia is
relying on to stay at
the top end of world
tennis.
And the highest paid Croat? Ivan Ljubicic, who’s collected $577,574 this year in prize
money alone. He’s followed by Mario Ancic with $482,270 and Ivo Karlovic with $221,748
For further information, please contact Chiara Pascarella (Indesit Company, [email protected], tel. +39 (0)732 662432)
or Valentina Broglia (Indesit Company, [email protected], tel. +39 (0)2 30702551)
11
Memorabilia
The Wimbledon Trophy
“
“
All the Slam tournaments are important but Wimbledon has a special
pull. Maybe it’s the grass, or the tradition but for two weeks I can’t think
of anything else. I switch my mobile off, don’t read the papers. All I
see is the Cup. How will I manage to lift it up on the first Sunday of July
12
Roger Federer