Baghdatis Rages! Nalbandian Demands Action Against Umpire!

Crowd favourite Marcos Baghdatis turned bad boy last night after smashing four racquets during an extraordinary outburst at a change of ends.

A frustrated Baghdatis vented his anger on his equipment after falling two sets down to 21st seed Stanislas Wawrinka on Margaret Court Arena.

The Cypriot, who was runner-up at the 2006 Australian Open, destroyed the racquet he'd been using and then turned his attention to the brand new ones from his kit bag while he sat at his chair.

It proved to be a masterstroke as Baghdatis' game went up a notch following the outburst and he clawed back into the match, taking the third set 7-5.

But Wawrinka showed his class getting an early break of serve in the fourth set and never gave Baghdatis another look-in, taking the victory 7-6 6-4 5-7 6-1.

A FURIOUS David Nalbandian yesterday demanded action against umpire Kader Nouni after a controversial end to his second-round match against John Isner at the Australian Open. After an epic struggle reached 8-8 in the deciding set and with Nalbandian on break point, Nouni overruled a linesperson who had called out an Isner ace.

Not only did television replays show Nouni had made a mistake – the ball was indeed wide – he then compounded the error by refusing Nalbandian the right to challenge via Hawk-Eye due to the time taken by the Argentinian to make the decision amid the confusion.

Isner duly held and then broke a clearly livid Nalbandian in the next game to complete a 4-6 6-3 2-6 7-6 (7/5) 10-8 victory.

“I asked for Hawk-Eye as he made an overrule. I say ‘okay, I see the mark, I challenge’, not a big deal, but he didn’t want to do it,” said Nalbandian. “How many times do we check the mark and ask for Hawk-Eye? So somebody from the umpires or ATP can explain this situation. I mean, what is this? This is a Grand Slam.

“I haven’t seen the video but I don’t think it was too late to call. John said, ‘yeah, ask’. It’s ridiculous playing this kind of tournament with this kind of umpire.

“Eight-all, break point. Can you be that stupid to do that in that moment? What does the umpire need, press, the name, his picture (in the paper) tomorrow? Incredible.”

Asked whether he felt Nouni was incapable of taking charge of this kind of match, Nalbandian said: “Absolutely. No doubt ... I have never seen something like that. The ATP have to check what they (are) doing for the umpires. Do they practise? I don’t know.”

Nalbandian ruled out making an official protest, though, believing the evidence was already out there. “It’s on the TV, on the video,” he added. “But every time we talk to the ATP, it’s like nothing, so what is the ATP for, the players or for somebody else?”

Isner, who plays Feliciano Lopez in round three, said afterwards: “I didn’t know what was going on as I was towelling off. I guess I was just a little luckier out there.”

Davydenko Takes A Dig At Federer!

Hitting out ... Nikolay Davydenko. Photo: Reuters

Nikolay Davydenko became the second man to object to Roger Federer's non-interventionist stance over players' grievances in his role as president of the Player Council yesterday.

Earlier yesterday, Rafael Nadal attempted to defuse the controversy that he triggered on Sunday, when he accused the Swiss of ignoring the complaints of the majority of tennis professionals.

But Davydenko - the Russian who was formerly ranked No.3 in the world - became the second man to object to Federer's approach.

I don't know why Roger is not supporting the players," Davydenko said. "Because he don't want ... any problems. He's nice guy. He's winning grand slams. He's from Switzerland. He's perfect. He don't want to do anything, he just try to be an outsider from this one."Davydenko's take on the issue was very similar to the one Nadal delivered on Sunday, when he was asked about Federer's non-interventionist stance.

He replied: "It is very easy [for Federer] to say, 'I am not going to say anything, everything is positive' and come off as a gentleman and burn the rest."

However, Nadal made an attempt at a rapprochement at his post-match press conference yesterday, where he explained that "I feel sorry for what I said" and promised that he would not talk about anything but tennis over the rest of the Australian Open fortnight.

But even if Nadal - who had his right knee heavily taped during his 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 win over Alex Kuznetsov, although an MRI scan later showed no damage - has really said his last word on the matter, he is not the only man to feel irritated by Federer's refusal to consider change. His outburst has started a debate that could roll on through the rest of this tournament.

Federer was the last man to speak yesterday, as his match was scheduled in the night session on Rod Laver Arena, but once he had arrived in the interview room he gave a thoroughly diplomatic press conference that reminded everyone why he is the president of the Player Council.

Asked for his response to the criticism from Nadal, who is the vice-president of the same body, he replied: "We can't always agree on everything. But for me, obviously nothing changes in terms of our relationship. I'm completely cool and relaxed about it, and [when we talked about it] he seemed the same way."

Tennis politics are notoriously hard to get a grip on, because no two players have exactly the same priorities. But the key issues being debated are two-fold: prize money for lower-ranked players at grand slams and the number of tournaments the leading players have to appear in.

When asked to discuss these subjects yesterday, Federer declined. "I choose not to talk about those issues with you guys in the press room because unfortunately it can create negative stories," he said.

And yet, as the conversation went on, his natural instinct was to support the status quo. "I thought the game was healthy. We're in a golden era right now. Everybody is happy, talking positive," he said.

This last comment seems an odd thing to say when the Association of Tennis Professionals players' meeting held on Saturday night was full of angst and anger. The upshot of their debate was summarised yesterday by the Ukrainian player Sergiy Stakhovsky, who said: "Some of the players were suggesting that we're not really going to play here. [They] got quite a lot of votes for that, too. But it was just not right, because we're here and the Australian Open would have no chance to change anything."

Although the new ATP chief executive, Brad Drewett, does not have any direct influence over the central issue of grand slam prize money - which the players feel should be higher than the current 12 per cent of the tournaments' total income - he is clearly under pressure to respond to the players' dissatisfaction.

As Davydenko put it: "The ATP should try to do something between now and Indian Wells [the California tournament in the second week of March]. All the top 100 players will go there and just see what will be changed."

Article reproduced from http://www.smh.com.au/sport/tennis/davydenko-has-a-dig-at-perfect-federer-as-row-rumbles-on-20120117-1q3no.html

More On Nadal..From Uncle Tony

Rafael Nadal has achieved more than the average 25-year-old – even Mark Zuckerberg is two years older. The Spaniard has amassed 10 Grand Slam titles and starts his hunt for an 11th this week in Melbourne. (It’s already Sunday here, of course.)

AFP/Getty Images

Rafael Nadal shows off his left-handed forehand in a match against Roger Federer in November.

But his career may never have escalated had he not developed his left-handed game which has confounded the tour’s best for just under a decade.

From the time he picked up a racket age 4, Nadal played with a two-handed forehand and backhand, but led with his left foot when playing soccer.

“I am not so intelligent, I thought he was left-handed, now I know he is right-handed,” coach and uncle Toni Nadal told more than 300 delegates at the Australian Grand Slam Coaches’ Conference on Saturday, adding that his nephew moved to a single-handed forehand age 10.

“The only thing Rafael does now with his left hand is play tennis,” Toni Nadal said. The Australian Open’s second seed signs autographs, brushes his teeth and plays golf with his right hand. He even uses his right hand to pick at his underwear between most points, a habit developed as a junior to abate nerves, according to Toni.

The coach again brought up golf when dishing out advice about efficient training. He pushed the idea that if players put in enough intensity during on-court practice, they shouldn’t need to do as much physical work in the gym.

“It’s like a golfer who takes a cart around the course but goes home to walk on a treadmill,” he analogized.

To an audience hanging on every translated word, Toni also reflected on his experience at the 2009 Australian Open.

Nadal had squeezed past countryman Fernando Verdasco in the semifinal to win a close five-setter that included three tiebreak sets.

Ahead of the final against Roger Federer that Sunday, the then 22-year old complained of sore calves, a sore shoulder, blisters on his hands and a headache. He wanted to call the training session off.

“I told him in two hours when you play the final, you won’t be better, you’ll probably be worse but I know that you’ll never be as close to winning the Australian Open as you are today,” Toni said.

“One thing I’m sure of is if you had a person in a firing range with a pistol pointing at you, you wouldn’t stop running, so it all depends on you, that you look for the motivation to win and don’t think of the problems you have in this moment.”

Nadal went on to defeat his rival 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-2 and doing so, claimed his first Grand Slam title on a hardcourt.

The Spaniard leads off the Open against American qualifier Alex Kuznetsov in the first round in a career-first meeting.

Article reproduced from http://blogs.wsj.com/dailyfix/2012/01/14/australian-open-rafael-nadal-part-time-southpaw/

Nadal Declare He's Injury Free

WORLD No.2 Rafael Nadal has few problems with his left shoulder injury, no issues with his passion for the game, and a determination not to be too concerned by his recent losing record against Novak Djokovic before next week's Australian Open.

Nadal last night declared his shoulder troubles behind him, after warming up for this year at an exhibition in Abu Dhabi and then reaching the Doha semi-finals on the way to Melbourne, where he has practised without pain for the past three days.

''I had a little problem on my shoulder during December, after the Davis Cup final, so I have been away off the tennis court for around two weeks, that breaks a little bit my preparation,'' Nadal said at a responsible-use-of-alcohol promotion in Melbourne.

But for the last three weeks I am practising in perfect conditions, so that's fantastic news and then practising here very hard, three hours every day, with no problems on the shoulder and that's what I need and I'm very happy for that.''

The 10-time major winner and 2009 Australian Open champion was also keen to correct reports that he had lost his motivation for tennis after a seven-year residence in the world's top two.

''A lot of talk about this and I didn't say that, I want to explain that, I didn't say that I lost motivation to play tennis,'' he said. ''I say that I played a few matches at the end of last year with less passion than usual - not saying that I am not any more motivated to play tennis. I am doing well. I played with fantastic passion the last two matches of the year in the Davis Cup final, and I had a very good tournament by the way in Doha last week [after] arriving with no preparation.''

Nadal said he practiced more than usual for a tournament week, extending his warm-up from 30-40 minutes to 90 to try to log the extra on-court hours he needs before the year's first grand slam. Last year, Nadal defended his French Open title but won only two others from another nine finals - losing six times to the rampaging Djokovic.

Asked if he felt he would be better equipped to combat Djokovic this year after having so many problems in recent finals against the Serb, the Spaniard said: ''I didn't have problems, I lost! I will try my best as usual and I'm working hard to try to be a better player than last year. The problem is I didn't have a lot of time to practice during the time off, but I'm working hard and I think I'm in the right way. Djokovic stays there [at No.1], but there's a lot of fantastic players around, too, so I have to compete against everybody, not only against Djokovic.

''Last year I lost six finals, six important finals, against him, but I have been there, so I played those finals, and to be there is something really difficult, too … Last year I had the chances; I converted only three of 10. This year I have to keep creating chances.''

Article reproduced from http://www.smh.com.au/sport/tennis/practice-is-making-nadal-feel-perfect-20120112-1pxlc.html