Filippo Volandri sees Roland Garros as his big

R O L A N D
G A R R O S
S P E C I A L
Communication and External Relations Department
June 2005
Promised
land
Filippo Volandri
sees Roland Garros
as his big chance
1
Enfants prodiges
The
’86 kids
Rafael
Nadal
Rafael Nadal, Richard Gasquet
and Gael Monfils were all born
the same year and are promising
to reach the top of world tennis
before long
T
ennis is like wine – there
are good years and years to
forget. 1986 promises to go
down in history as the year
that three players all set for
glorious futures were born.
And it wouldn’t be a risky
bet, seeing that two of them
have already proved they are the stuff of
champions.
Top of the list is Rafael Nadal, 18, native of Majorca, who this year has won
two ATP Masters Series on clay (Monte
Carlo and Rome), thus catapulting himself to no. 2 in the INDESIT ATP 2005
Race and effectively becoming the main
Gael Monfils
Post
scriptum
2
challenger of Federer in the struggle for
the no. 1 spot at the end of the year. Rafael starts as logical favourite at Roland
Garros, the only doubt being his stamina in a Grand Slam tournament, having
only played five in his career. Last year
an injury kept him of the courts of Porte
d’Auteuil, but this year he’ll be the terror of the usual favourites, whether they
be Argentinian, Spanish or the top seed
Federer. But will he manage to maintain
high level play over seven matches in 14
days and if necessary for 35 sets? Given the energy he showed in the final in
Rome, it would seem he will.
And he’ll need it straightaway, seeing
that in all probability he’ll have to face
Richard Gasquet in the third round.
Technically the opposite of the Spanish phenomenon, Gasquet is a natural talent with few equals. When Federer started doing his magic on various
courts round the world, the experts all
agreed that, “You get one like this every
50 years”. Only months later and we’re
already singing the praises of a kid that
has little to envy the Swiss for in terms
of technique and style.
Kissed by the god of tennis, he has a
backhand destined to outshine the
beauty and efficacy of Rosewall’s, Edberg’s, Connors’ and Kuerten’s, the
highest rated backhands to date. Hard
to say if he’ll outdo Nadal, because as
with all geniuses you have to wait and
The ATP has signed a three-year agreement with Stanford Financial
Group, which ia already sponsoring the Delta Tour of Champions
rankings The Tennis Channel, the world’s only TV channel
dedicated exclusively to our sport, has celebrated its 2nd birthday
The Ten Best Years
What are the ten best years in the era of modern tennis? Taking the
players who played in the Open Era (since 1968), here are the cream.
Jimmy Connors
Bjorn Borg
Ivan Lendl
Mats Wilander
1952
1956
Bjorn Borg
Gene Mayer
Bill Scanlon
Steve Denton
Ivan Lendl
Yannick Noah
Andres Gomez
Tim Mayotte
1960
1964
Mats Wilander
Miloslav Mecir
Jimmy Arias
Martin Jaite
Jakob Hlasek
Hendrik Sundstrom
Boris Becker
Thomas Muster
Aaron Krickstein
Most of the fame went to Connors and Vilas. The former won
at Wimbledon and the Us Open
more than once, the latter the
French and Australian Opens.
Together they did the Grand
Slam. Then Solomon, finalist in
Paris, Fibak who proved Poland
could produce champions too,
and Alexander, who has a fine
record in the Davis Cup.
The Swedish Bear would suffice
on his own. Borg won 11 Slams,
of which five consecutive Wimbledons. Then Gene Mayer, one
of the most talented and entertaining players of all time (McEnroe’s bête noire) and Steve Denton, a middling sort of player
who once won the Australian
Open because most the champions were absent.
The only thing Lendl’s career
lacked was a Wimbledon title.
If he’d had the volée of Gentleman Tim Mayotte or even that
of Noah (winner in Paris in 1983
and a Platinum disk in France for
his musical apré-tennis), he’d
certainly have won. Rounding
off the batch is Andres Gomez,
who won in Paris in 1990 beating Andre Agassi in the final.
Wilander is the only one who
can boast a Slam (seven in fact)
but Mecir is one of the best
players never to have won one.
The others won some important titles and were all Top 10s
without having extraordinary
talent, which is even more to
their credit.
Becker was for years an icon of
the German people, ever since he
won his first Wimbledon at 17. Muster, on the other hand, serves as
an example to us all – limited talent but a will to win that enabled
him to take the Paris title. Krickstein was one of the first enfants
prodiges out of Bollettieri and lost
to Connors in the US Open in what
was one of the most exciting matches of the last 20 years.
Andre Agassi
Pete Sampras
Roger Federer
Andy Roddick
Rafael Nadal
1970
1971
Pete Sampras
Goran Ivanisevic
Sergi Bruguera
Roger Federer
Lleyton Hewitt
1981
1982
Andy Roddick
Guillermo Coria
David Nalbandian
Joachim Johansson
Rafael Nadal
Richard Gasquet
Gael Monfils
They grew up together at the
Bollettieri Academy and even
though Agassi has won more,
Courier started winning first
and beat his former academy
mate in a final in Paris. With
Agassi and Chang, they represented the best in US tennis in
the ‘90s.
Pistol Pete would be more than
enough: 14 Grand Slam titles,
7 Wimbledons. But no one will
ever forget “Crazy Horse” Ivanisevic or that Sergi Bruguera
who may not have been much
to watch but won two Roland
Garros anyway.
Currently the top two players in
the world. Federer promises to
become the greatest of all time
and Hewitt is a worthy companion, having already closed two
years in his career in the no. 1
spot.
Roddick has already won the US
Open and been a Wimbledon
finalist; Coria came to within a
hairsbreadth of winning at Roland Garros, as did Nalbandian
at Wimbledon and Johansson
in New York. And that certainly
won’t be the last of them.
These are the stars of the future
and to a certain extent of the present too. Nadal has won two ATP
Masters Series, Gasquet’s talent
is ranked equal to Federer’s...
and Monfils promises to catch up
with them soon.
Jimmy Connors
Guillermo Vilas
Brian Gottfried
Harold Solomon
Wojtek Fibak
John Alexander
Andre Agassi
Jim Courier
Richard
Gasquet
see what his degree of indiscipline is.
What is certain is that he’ll be entertaining. His encounters with king Federer
they’re the best one could aspire to as
far as technical talent goes. In Paris a
lot will depend on how he reacts to the
enormous media pressure on him, but
to become no. 1 he’ll have to get over
the media hurdle pretty soon.
Different again the case of Gael Monfils, who isn’t a real enfant prodige. He
played amongst the juniors till the end
and he’s doing well in his first year as
a pro-, albeit without performing miracles. What impresses so much is his
potential: his margin for improvement is
Boris Becker
1967
1986
vast, technically, physically and mentally. He serves like Roddick, slogs the
forehands like few others and physically
resembles a playmaker filched from the
Nba. But he’s got a lot of maturing to
do, as people on the circuit with him,
and especially his coach Thierry Champion, will tell you.
Lumped together though they make a
formidable troika, the like of which hasn’t been seen for years. You’d have to
go back to 1971, the year Pete Sampras,
Goran Ivanisevic and Sergi Bruguera
were born to dominated clay, grass and
cement. The 1986 trio suggest that history is about to repeat itself.
Nick Bollettieri, after 48 years following his players round tournaments, has taken up a new
challenge: he’s opened Camp Kaizen, a no-profit centre fighting obesity on the increase
amongst young people Tickets are now on sale on-line at www.masters-cup.com for
the year-end event in Shanghai, where the eight best players in the world will fight it out
3
Personality Profile
Filippo Volandri
On clay he’s a tricky
customer even
for the top players.
A consistent performer,
he aims to surpass
Andrea Gaudenzi,
the last Italian to break
into the world’s Top 20.
From Roland Garros
on, Volandri will be
an Indesit Company player.
Inspiration “In Italy
I always saw Renzo
Furlan as a model. We
have similar characteristics on court, similar mentalities”.
Green with envy!
Roland Garros “Roland Garros is
another sport. Five sets on clay is very
hard going. You need a spirit of sacrifice, extreme athletic fitness and force
of mind. Just the quarter finals would
be an excellent result”.
Home sweet home “My favourite
tournament is Rome. I like the people,
the fans, the warmth of the public. And
it’s in Italy too.”.
Clay “Clay is a formidable adversary.
It forces you into long rallies, brings
out the fighter in you, the will to suffer, the winning mentality. On cement
you can get away with just talent, on
clay no”.
Faster and... faster “I must improve my serving and get used to playing
the fast game too. From zero to 17 I
played on clay all the time. Now I have
to make up lost time. But if pure clay
specialists like the Argentinians have
managed it, so can I. It’s just a question of time”.
Favours returned “Moya has a wicked forehand but with my backhand
I’m not giving away anything to anyone. As for volleys, well, I wouldn’t mind
borrowing Federer’s”.
Number 1 “Being number 1 in Italy
is important if you’re no. 30 in the world. But what’s the good of being no. 1
in Italy, if you’re not even in the world
Top 50?”.
Beginnings “I grew up in the Livorno Tennis Club. I started playing when
I was 7, following the example of my si-
Post
scriptum
4
sportsman”.
Filippo
Volandri
Filippo
Volandri
ster Veronica. I played basketball too
because I had two uncles who were
national players, but since my mother
couldn’t take us to two different places, I had to choose”.
Father and son “My relationship
with Fabrizio Fanucci is pretty well father and son. I started with him when I
was 16; the following year he took me
to Florence and since then we’ve practically lived together”.
Hard graft “People say we Italians
are cosseted and have too many distractions. Well, that’s certainly not my
case, seeing I’m sometimes on court
eight hours a day”.
Money speaks “Money or glory? To
tell the truth, if I put them both on the
scales, maybe I play more for money.
But having said that, playing for Italy,
for example, is always a big thing. But
earning money is important for any
“The sportsmen I
envy most? Footballers. They have a
simpler life, they earn
much more and, in my
opinion, don’t have
so many sacrifices to
make”.
Mixed doubles “The
woman tennis player
I’d like to play doubles
with? My friend Flavia
Pennetta”.
Iron will “I’m an easygoing sort of guy but
determined. I understand what I want and
am doing my utmost to
achieve my objectives.
Maybe I should be a
little less rational and
bit more impulsive”.
Personal best...
“The best match of my life was last
year, against Moya in Umago. It’s amazing how on certain days every ball you
touch is a good one. The problem is,
not everyday’s like that”.
Putting yourself across “Your
public image is very important. Look
at Agassi. That’s what he’s best at and
in fact he’s managed to earn the most
without winning the most”.
Role model “The sportsman I admire
most? Paolo Maldini”.
Progress report “The last two
months on cement have improved him.
He plays more in the court and his forehand too is getting dangerous. He
could make the Top 20 this year”. Paolo Bertolucci, former champion and
Sky commentator
Top 10 “On clay Filippo is Top Ten
material”. Corrado Barazzutti, Davis
Cup captain
Andy Roddick has gone European – by signing up with sponsor Lacoste
Phenomenal Federer has chalked up his 19th consecutive finals victory, an alltime record The Long Island tournament preceding the US Open at the end of
August has been staged in New Haven, in parallel with the women’s tournament
Special Ranking
INDESIT ATP 2005 Race
1
Roger Federer (Swi)
1
Age 23 – Race Points 575
41 wins/2 defeats
2
Rafael Nadal (Spa)
5
Age 18 – Race Points 465
41 wins/6 defeats
3
Lleyton Hewitt (Aus)
2
Age 24 – Race Points 253
18 wins/3 defeats
4
Marat Safin (Rus)
4
Age 25 – Race Points 245
15 wins/7 defeats
5
Andy Roddick (USA)
3
1
Age 22 – Race Points 244
25 wins/6 defeats
He missed Rome but was back to win the
ATP Masters Series in Hamburg. This makes
three this season, seven in his career. Only
Agassi and Sampras have done better, but
their records are now looking under threat.
6
He won his second ATP Masters Series of the season
in Rome, launching him as the real alternative to
Roger Federer in the battle for the number 1 spot.
If he hadn’t been forced to miss Hamburg, he could
have had a shot at overtaking Federer.
7
Guillermo Coria (Arg)
The Wizard is playing extraordinarily well, at times. But
at the end of the day, he lost to the top duo - Nadal in
Rome and Federer in Hamburg. His declared objective
is Roland Garros, where he will be difficult to beat. In
the meantime, qualification for Shanghai draws closer.
Nikolay Davidenko (Rus)
The Russian continues to surprise and shows
great versatility. After excellent results on
cement, he made the semi-final on clay in the
Hamburg ATP Masters Series. He’ll fight to
the very end for his Top 10 placing.
Gaston Gaudio (Arg)
Better things were expected of the Roland Garros
title holder in the ATP Masters Series on clay but he
cut a rather sorry figure. He’ll find it hard to repeat
his 2004 exploit in Paris and with the clay season
over he won’t be so certain of survival in the Top 10.
After a surprising start to the season, the giant Croat
has slowed down somewhat, partly due to the clay
circuit where he doesn’t feel quite at home. His eyes are
on the Masters Cup but he’ll have to do far better in the
ATP Masters Series and the Slam tournaments.
Age 23 - Race Points 236
25 wins/10 defeats
9
12
Injury kept him out of the entire clay season,
including three ATP Masters Series. A
real shame seeing the brilliant start to the
season he had. On the positive side, he
announced the arrival of a baby boy.
8
An enigma if ever there was one. At the start of
the season he looked phenomenal, now he’s
floundering. In Rome he lost to Almagro, in Hamburg
he lost (again) to Ferrero, who’d already beaten him
in Monte Carlo. More indiscipline than genius.
9
Ivan Ljubicic (Cro)
14
Age 26 – Race Points 215
29 wins/11 defeats
10
Andre Agassi (USA)
6
Clay isn’t his favourite surface and his results in Rome
and Hamburg confirm this. But his gesture of fair play
at the Foro Italico, where he corrected an umpire’s call
at his own expense (on his own match point!) and went
on to lose against Verdasco, does him great honour.
7
1
Ranking in the INDESIT ATP 2005 Race
The earnings of the top
tennis players make interesting reading. Who’s
earned the most in their
career, considering tournament winnings only?
Pete
Sampras
* millions of dollars
Under 20
ranking
At nearly half way through
the season, here are the
under-20s in the Top 100
of the INDESIT ATP 2005
Race.
Race Pos.
Player
Year
2
Rafael Nadal
1986
15
Richard Gasquet
1986
64
Nicolas Almagro
1985
71
Tomas Berdych
1985
73
Gael Monfils
1986
77
Marcos Baghdatis
1985
77
Stanislav Wawrinka
1985
Age 26 – Race Points 218
29 wins/9 defeats
Age 35 – Race Points 209
22 wins/8 defeats
Never one to give up, he got to the semi-final
in Rome even though clay has never been his
favourite surface. Still seeking a suitable swansong opportunity, he is in the meantime well placed
for the Tennis Masters Cup at the end of the year.
INDESIT ATP Entry Ranking
Tennis
tycoons
Marcos
Baghdatis
Age 23 - Race Points 224
27 wins/14 defeats
Player
Pete Sampras
Andre Agassi
Boris Becker
Yevgeny Kafelnikov
Ivan Lendl
Stefan Edberg
Goran Ivanisevic
Michael Chang
Roger Federer
Lleyton Hewitt
Gulliermo
Coria
Nation
USA
USA
Germany
Russia
Czech Rep.
Sweden
Croatia
USA
Switzerland
Australia
Career prize
money*
43,280,489
29,857,841
25,080,956
23,883,797
21,262,417
20,630,941
19,876,579
19,145,632
16,271,433
15,259,405
*sum of top three players’ positions
in the INDESIT ATP Entry Ranking
Nation
Ranking
by nation
Argentina continues to
lead the field, with Spain
and the USA fighting for
second place. In the
meantime France has
been given new breath
by Gasquet hitting form
Points*
1
Argentina
25
2
Spain
36
3
USA
39
4
Russia
46
5
Sweden
67
6
Czech Rep.
91
7
Germany
104
7
France
104
9
Croatia
109
10
Belgium
139
Federer won his third ATP Masters Series this season in Hamburg. No one’s ever won
four. He’s got four chances left The Bryan brothers lead the doubles team rankings, while
Jonas Bjorkman is the no. 1 in doubles single lists. The Spanish version of People has
put the Argentinian David Nalbandian in its chart of the 50 world’s most beautiful men
5
Indesit Party
Filippo
Volandri
Champion
hunting
Just for one evening,
the champions
abandoned
the Foro Italico
so we, and hordes
of predatory fans,
could admire
them off-court as well.
And in this context,
the undisputed
number 1
is still a handsome
Russian guy...
W
e saw desperate
faces when it became known that Roger Federer wouldn’t be delighting
us with his divine
tennis in the Foro Italico. And we saw
others kissing photos of Rafael Nadal
as if they were holy relics or amulets.
We had to stand firm against hordes
of young fans and ageing afecionados besieging our stand at the Italian
Open to get autographs from the no.
1 local player Filippo Volandri. The
more daring of the girls managed to
steal a kiss, others (more practical)
slipped their phone numbers in his
pockets.... The better informed soon
gave up, feigning world-wisdom,
“Forget it. His girlfriend’s that TV
showgirl. You don’t expect him to run
after you, do you?”.
Rome isn’t only a five-hour final, not
all in a ball run down by Nadal or
chopped by Coria. Rome is a stage
Post
scriptum
6
In returning, Rafael Nadal heads the field in terms of points won against first and
second serves. He’s also the player who’s won the highest percentage of breaks
For a newly launched line of apparel called Urnab Tennis visit www.40luv.com
20 nations have at least one player in the Top 50 of the INDESIT ATP 2005 Race
Red though. Emilio Sanchez
has always been a stealer
of hearts but he’s already
found the right Italian girl for
him and married her, in Barcelona. She’s already given
him two children, so nothing
doing there.
Next please. Fabrice Santoro, a slight French guy
with a sweet look that often conquers the hearts of
fans, who will have their
reasons for calling him the
Wizard. Pity that Fabrice
turned up with his wife,
who could well compete as
Miss France, and their little daughter, who enjoyed
herself by singing a Beatles song. An idyllic family
situation, so even the Frenchman had to be passed
over, unwillingly.
So eyes were on Max Mirnyi, a true heartthrob,
maybe because fans often
misunderstand his nickname – the Beast. Max even
played the model for a laugh and the ladies were all
full of admiration for his
statuesque physique. Unfortunately Max is also a
very scrupulous professional and his
sporting commitments for the day-after dictated a hasty exit.
After this poker of two of spades, Mirnyi wasn’t the only one to leave. The
evening came to a close to the notes
of the group led by David Ekerot and
the Bryan brothers and with the tennis
champions ready to do battle again on
the clay courts of the Foro Italico.
Bjorn Borg’s
imitation
without paragon in the ATP circuit.
Rome means a public that knows its
tennis, passionate and also cruel. A
public that, when one player was 6-1
5-0 down in just 59 minutes, started
shouting, “get a move on, or they’ll
charge you for the second hour!”.
This was the sparkling, colourful world we Indesit Company people found
ourselves in. But we didn’t stop in the
Foro Italico, on the contrary we took
the Foro Itliaco out......
Destination Red Restaurant, for a
party with our friends the players and
the press. They came in numbers but
in the end it became clear what the
insiders had known for ages. OK the
Latin charm of a Moya or the strong
personality of a Roddick, but the title
of sexiest tennis player on the planet
went, as usual, to Marat Safin.
As son as the good looking Russian
turned up at the party, the ladies went
into action, or rather on the attack.
Only that, while some fans chose the
wrong tack (“Bravo Marat! Great tennis today” after the Russian had got
a hiding from Nicolas Almagro) and
others merely shot seductive glances
at him, Marat could think of nothing
better to do than discuss backhands
and forehands with Emilio Sanchez. To
the joyous relief of the envious males
who were hanging around watching.
Safin wasn’t the only good-looker at the
Our survey
During the Rome event we asked fans to fill in a brief questionnaire designed
to break down respondents into traditional and modern fans.
At the end of the 15 day tournament most of the respondents had said they
wanted tennis to be more cool, more lively, less straight-laced. An attacking
game was preferred to the defensive, racquets should perhaps flung away
when a smash ends up in the net rather than staging a bout of Buddhist meditation. There were some exceptions of course. After all, replacing your old
white polo shirt with a Nadal style single requires not only pluck but also an
exceptional fisique du role.
The Australian champion Mark Philippoussis, often out of the circuit through injury, will make
his come-back for the Queen’s Tournament, which he won in 1997 and which will be played in
London after Roland Garros. Roger Federer has reshuffled his management team by replacing
Thomas Werder with Hering Schuppener to look after the international promotion of his image
7
S
P
E
C
I
A
L
ROLAND GARROS
A poker
of aces
T
ennis is anything but science,
so making predictions isn’t
always easy. Who would ever
have bet a cent on Gaston
Gaudio winning in Paris last
year? The same goes for Thomas Johansson, winner of the Australian
Open 2002 and David Nalbandian, finalist at Wimbledon the same year. However, it wouldn’t be too hazardous a guess
to say that this year’s Roland Garros will
crown a new king of clay. A look at the
results of the three ATP Masters Series
tournaments on clay and how they affected the rankings should be sufficient.
Four aces stand out from the crowd.
The three pre-announced protagonists, Roger Federer, Guillermo Coria
and Rafael Nadal, have now been joined by a prestige outsider who fully deserves favourite status in Paris.
Richard Gasquet is keeping the aesthetes of the game in perpetual ecstasy
– his backhand knows no equal, but it’s
the whole ensemble that’s so miraculous. The weightiest endorsement came
Post
scriptum
8
from the world’s no. 1, Roger Federer,
who in the Hamburg final seemed bothered not only by the 18 year-old French
kid’s strength but above all by the fact
that the critics were praising his talent as
the most brilliant on the circuit (alongsi-
Habitual winners
Players in the Open Era (since 1968)
who’ve won at least twice in Paris.
6 wins
Bjorn Borg
3 wins
Ivan Lendl, Mats Wilander,
Gustavo Kuerten
2 wins
Jan Kodes, Sergi Bruguera,
Jim Courier
Paris will
very probably
crown
a new clay court
tennis champion.
The favourites
are
four phenomena
who’ve
played brilliantly
in the three
Masters Series
leading up
to the
grand Parisian
event.
de that of the Swiss of course!). But the
feeling is that King Federer is no longer
playing in a world of his own when it comes to pure technical talent. At only nine
years old Gasquet got himself on the front
cover of the French Tennis Magazine; at
17 though he seemed ready for an episode of “Missing Persons”. Probably oppressed by the enormous expectations
of a whole nation hoping desperately
for a French no. 1, his prodigious talent
went into hiding. It needed the excellent
French coach Eric Deblicker to get him
back on track, with two victories in minor tournaments (Barletta and Naples in
April) before breathing the rarefied air of
world tennis in Monte Carlo and Hamburg. Of the four favourites he is perhaps
the last because he’ll have incredible
pressure on him as the home player. It
could be though that this pressure fires
his spirit, as a theatre audiences can inspire actors and singers. What is certain
is that this young player will be giving us
plenty of entertainment in coming years.
Someone who’s already been delighting
Rafael Nadal has won the last 17 games he’s played on clay. At the start of the year he
was no. 51 in the INDESIT ATP Entry Ranking; now he’s no. 5 The June issue of Vogue will
be featuring Marat Safin, described as “as good-looking as a film star” Roger Federer
has won the Laureus World Sport Award, following Michael Schumacher in the record
G S ROLAND GARROS
us for a couple of seasons, on the other
hand, is Roger Federer. He himself realizes that clay will never be his favourite
surface but his third consecutive success
in Hamburg suggests that he has all the
technical capacities needed to win in Paris as well. On German clay he beat Guillermo Coria, ie. one of the big favourites
for Roland Garros, and Gasquet, three
sets to nil in the final. Playing conditions
are very different in Hamburg though.
The final was indoors and anyone who’s
ever played tennis at all understands the
difference between playing in the wind
and sun and playing with a roof over your
head. And in Paris it’s three sets out of
five from the first round on, so by the end
of the tournament fatigue can be a big
problem. History is full of great players
who exhausted themselves in the run-up
to the final. It’s bit like getting to the last
stage of the Tour de France wearing the
yellow jersey and suddenly running out
of steam – effort down the drain. Fortune hasn’t been too kind to Federer, who
in theory will be playing Nico Almagro
in the second round, Fernando Gonzalez in the third and Carlos Moya in the
fourth. An extremely demanding run-up
to the decisive stages of the tournament.
A player who doesn’t seem to know
what tiredness means is Rafael Na-
Rafael
Nadal
ATP Masters Series Ranking
Three ATP Masters Series tournaments were played on clay before Paris: in
Monte Carlo, Rome and Hamburg. Here are the highest points winners in those
tournaments in the INDESIT ATP 2005 Race.
Player
Nation
Points
Best result
1
Rafael Nadal
Spain
200
2
Guillermo Coria
Argentina
165
3
Roger Federer
Switzerland
125
victory in Hamburg
4
Richard Gasquet
France
122
final in Hamburg
5
David Ferrer
Spain
71
semi-final in Rome
6
Nikolay Davydenko
Russia
61
7
Juan Carlos Ferrero
Spain
60
7
Filippo Volandri
Italy
57
9
Gaston Gaudio
Argentina
55
10
Andre Agassi
USA
46
victory in Monte
Carlo and Rome
final in Monte Carlo
and Rome
semi-final
in Hamburg
semi-final
in Monte Carlo
quarter finals in Monte
Carlo and Hamburg
quarter finals
in Monte Carlo
semi-finals in Rome
Roger
Federer
Martin Mulligan was declared a “Golden Racquet” in Rome for his successes first as player
(he won the Italian Open three times and was a Wimbledon finalist) and then as manager The
player who’s scored the most aces so far is Andy Roddick: 394 in 29 matches. The American
is also the player who’s saved the highest number of break points and lost the fewest serves
9
G S ROLAND GARROS
dal. This Spanish champion played a
final in Rome lasting five and a quarter
hours and looked as though he could
do it again the day after. Fortunately for
him perhaps, excessive blistering forced
him to rest in the meantime. It’s easy to
overtax the human machine and break
it, maybe in the tournament that counts
most. So after two weeks rest he should
get to Paris in perfect shape and be the
biggest threat to anyone’s pretensions
to the Musketeers Cup. Nadal has seemingly inexhaustible energy and will arrive in Paris with 17 consecutive wins
to his record. This is better than anyone
else since Thomas Muster, who turned
up at the Porte d’Auteuil in 1995 with
23 wins in row. The result? He won at
Roland Garros too. Which bodes well
for Nadal, whose Achille’s heel is lack of
experience. He’s only played in five Slam
tournaments so far in his career and has
never got past the fourth round. Last
year in Paris he was out with an injury
but this time, if he manages to handle
all the attention that will be on him and
the fact of playing three out of five right
from the start, it won’t be at all a surprise to see him in the weekend final.
Of our four favourites the one with the
axe to grind is Guillermo Coria. Last
year he came tantalizingly close to securing triumph when he was defeated
David
Ferrer
by fear and cramp. This year he’s back
stronger than ever. He’s changed a lot
too - coach (now the Spanish Perlas),
training centre (Academia Sanchez-Casal, Barcelona), racquet (the new Prince
with “holes”); the only thing he hasn’t
changed is his beautiful wife Carla. With
toned up muscles and a more incisive
backline game, Coria threw away the
final in Rome by wasting a huge advantage in the fifth set against Nadal. One
gets the feeling though that it’s all been
Mister Slam
A player’s career is judged by his performance in
the Grand Slam tournaments. Here’s who’s won
the most in recent history.
Pete
Sampras
Post
scriptum
10
Slam
titles
Player
Nation
Pete Sampras
USA
14
Roy Emerson
Australia
12
Bjorn Borg
Sweden
11
Rod Laver
Australia
11
Bill Tilden
USA
10
Fred Perry
UK
8
Andre Agassi
USA
8
Jimmy Connors
USA
8
Ken Rosewall
Australia
8
Ivan Lendl
Czech Rep.
8
Richard
Gasquet
Only 44 points divide the no. 3 from the no. 9 in the INDESIT ATP 2005 Race The
Us Open is tinged with blue this year The colour was chosen for the new scheme
on all courts to improve ball visibility Wilson has signed a five-year contract
with Tennis Australia and will be the new official ball in the Australian Open
planned with a view to Paris, as if the
previous tournaments were merely
work-outs for a master-performance at
Roland Garros. In the meantime, we’ve
been entertained by his chop shots
(in this he’s already no.1) and fans are
thanking him for having brought tennis’s
most spectacular shot back into fashion.
All this said, there shouldn’t be much to
say about outsiders, given we consider
the “four” as untouchable. But surpri-
Chileans. “Mano de Piedra” Gonzalez is
always dangerous, as is Nicolas Massu,
the Olympic champion who now seems
fully recovered from the bad injury that’s
kept him off the courts for ages. And to
close, a word on Marat Safin, who was
phenomenal at the opening of the season but now wouldn’t seem worth considering to judge from his performance on
clay so far. But the handsome Russian is
nothing if not above logical predictions.
Bjorn
Borg
Hall of Fame
And here are all the winners at Roland
Garros in the Open Era (since 1968).
Juan Carlos
Ferrero
ses are always round the corner. In the
shape of who? Again, the results of the
three clay court ATP Masters Series give
us some ideas. The Spanish, in particular, are the ones to watch. First of
all, Juan Carlos Ferrero, who won in
Paris in 2003. Then there’s David Ferrer, who may not be the greatest talent
in tennis but has no rivals in terms of
willpower, courage and athletic stamina. Nor should we forget the current title holder, Gaston Gaudio, who hasn’t
particularly impressed us this season
but who may hit form on breathing the
Roland Garros air that spelt glory for him
last year. Then there’s Andre Agassi,
who at 35 probably no longer has the
energy to win the tournament but could
always rise to the occasion in a single
day. In the wings we have the likes of
Nikolay Davydenko, Filippo Volandri,
and Fernando Verdasco, who would
all be content with the quarter finals and
in getting there could seriously annoy
the big fellas. Oustide the “top 10” of
this special ranking, watch out for the
Andre
Agassi
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
Ken Rosewall (Aus)
Rod Laver (Aus)
Jan Kodes (Cz. Rep.)
Jan Kodes (Cz. Rep.)
Andres Gimeno (Spa)
Ilie Nastase (Rom)
Bjorn Borg (Swe)
Bjorn Borg (Swe)
Adriano Panatta (Ita)
Guillermo Vilas (Arg)
Bjorn Borg (Swe)
Bjorn Borg (Swe)
Bjorn Borg (Swe)
Bjorn Borg (Swe)
Mats Wilander (Swe)
Yannick Noah (Fra)
Ivan Lednl (Cz. Rep.)
Mats Wilander (Swe)
Ivan Lendl (Cz. Rep.)
Ivan Lendl (Cz. Rep.)
Mats Wilander (Swe)
Michael Chang (USA)
Andres Gomez (Ecu)
Jim Courier (USA)
Jim Courier (USA)
Sergi Bruguera (Spa)
Sergi Bruguera (Spa)
Thomas Muster (Aut)
Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Rus)
Gustavo Kuerten (Bra)
Carlos Moya (Spa)
Andre Agassi (USA)
Gustavo Kuerten (Bra)
Gustavo Kuerten (Bra)
Albert Costa (Spa)
Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spa)
Gaston Gaudio (Arg)
Marat Safin was voted sexiest tennis player in the world by the Britsh Ace Magazine. Following the Russian were German
Tommy Haas and Australian Mark Philippoussis. “I hope to be back soon as the no. 1 in the world rankings for tennis too”
said Safin Winning a tournament without losing a set is an awesome feat: this season, Federer has done it three times and
Nadal twice The American James Blake is winning tournaments again. This time though it was a Challenger, at Forest Hills
11
Memorabilia
Roland Garros’s propeller
“
“
«Victory belongs to the most determined». These words are
engraved on the aeroplane propeller of Roland Garros, the
famous French aviator killed in the first world war whose name
was given to the stadium where the French Open is held.
12