Roger Federer makes quick work of Youzhny in Dubai

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Roger Federer makes quick work of Youzhny in Dubai

By Jawad Bisharat

Roger Federer made quick work of Mikhail Youzhny in the first round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships  6-3, 6-1.

Federer broke first in the 1st set at 3-3 and continued a 7 game win streak against the Russian.

Youzhny, now 32 years old, has never beaten Federer and Monday it was all the same. Youzhny doesn't match up well against Federer. Their style of play is very similar except Federer does everything just a little better except for the backhand which I feel is equal in quality.

Federer coming of a surprise loss to Seppi at the Australian Open last month is seeking his 7th Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship title.  

"I think it was close in that first set." said Federer. "I think we were both trying to find our range. I'm happy I didn't start to play too careful after it, because it is tough to play here in Dubai with the quick conditions. After that, I think I started to return much better. Serve got a bit more consistent. My half volleys were getting better. I was able to get the set and the break, and then that's when you can bring it home."

In other matches, Denis Istomin upset #14 in the world Ernests Gulbis 7-5, 6-2. Gulbis, has not won a match in 2015. Istomin on the other hand plays a bigger game then his #65 ranking leads you to believe. He possesses all the stokes to compete with the top 20. 

"I'm not in good form right now," said Gulbis, who led 4-1 in the first set. "I'm not feeling my shots at all. I have no timing. In practice I have been playing worse than in the match."

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Gulbis forehand- Is it really that different?

Gulbis

Ernests Gulbis Forehand- Is it really that different??

By Jawad Bisharat

Berdych

Every time I watch Ernest Gulbis on televison I repeatidly hear the commentators discussing how akward Ernests Gulbis's forehand is. One commentator went as far as saying "Dad paid a lot of money for that forehand". 

So I wanted to break down Gulbis's forehand for myself and see if it was really that different. After all he is ranked #13 in the world, how bad could it be right? 

The reality is it is not bad at all. You will see by the pictures of Berdych, Murray, and Djokovic that Gulbis's forehand is very similiar and in someways better. That said, Ernest has been working with Larry Spefanki in Rancho Santa Fe, Ca to make his forhard more traditional. I saw a preview of his new forehand when he played for the San Diego Aviator's in the summer of last year. The main advantage of this new stroke is time. He has shortened his swing allowing his to prepare for on coming shots quicker. However, see below how the stroke was really not much different. 

Djokovic

Notice the similarity in the right arm of every player when preparing to hit the ball. Lets call this part 1. In part 1 all four players have their right arm nearly straight out towards the back fence and the face of the racket parrerel with the groud. If I were to cover the faces of the players and showed you only part 1 of the take back you would not be able to determine who is who. Yes, I know Novak plays with Head and Gulbis Wilson but you get my point. 

The commentators are either looking for something to talk about or mearly focusing on Gulbis's left arm which he extends out towards the ball. They described Gulbis's preperation as " He looks like he is stopping traffic". 

Murray

Yes, this is not how the forehand is traditionally tought and looks akward at first glance. Players are tought to bring their left arm further across their body and more parrerel with the baseline to create shoulder turn and body preperation. However, I would argue that Gulbis creates the same amount of shoulder rotation as any of the examples shown. 

Figure 1

See figure 1. If you were to draw a line from the tip of Gulbis's racket straight across his shoulders it would be nearly identical to Murray's eventhough Murray brings his left arm across his entire body. He is the opposite extreme as most players keep it at 90 degrees from their shoulder. 

 Now that I have shown how Gulbis's preperation is not far off convential and more popular forehands lets focus on point of contact. Thats what really matters right??

At contact all players have moved into the same and most common position to strike the ball. 

The elbow bends and slides along the right hip. The player also allows the racket head to drop below their hand. This is important, as they do not drop their hand much lower then the height of the ball. With the racket head dropped they move their hand across the same plane as the ball giving them penetration and spin. 

Of coarse different situations will call for the stroke to be adjusted but in this illustration I clearly show that Gulbis's forehand is very similiar to those of the world's top players. It's not necessarily how you start the stroke but more importantly how you finish it. 

BNP Paribas Open day 6 results

BNP Paribas Open Results

A couple surprise results with Verdasco only winning 1 game against Nieminen and Tipsarevic winning only 2 games against qualifier Ernest Gulbis.
Ryan Harrison was able to fight back from a break down in the first set to force a tiebreaker but losing 7-3. Nadal took control of the 2nd set early and closed the math 6-2.
It was a nice win for Nadal but the rust was apparent. On more then one occasion he point forehands in the bottom of the net and made some uncharacteristic errors in his victory over Harrison. Nadal will have to sharpen his game if he hopes to be competitive against the top 4.

RESULTS - MARCH 09, 2013
Men's
Singles - Second Round
[2] R Federer (SUI) d D Istomin (UZB) 62 63
K Anderson (RSA) d [4] D Ferrer (ESP) 36 64 63
[5] R Nadal (ESP) d R Harrison (USA) 76(3) 62
[6] T Berdych (CZE) d [Q] M Zverev (GER) 62 64
[Q] E Gulbis (LAT) d [9] J Tipsarevic (SRB) 62 60
[10] R Gasquet (FRA) d B Tomic (AUS) 76(1) 62
[13] G Simon (FRA) d P Lorenzi (ITA) 63 36 75
L Hewitt (AUS) d [15] J Isner (USA) 67(6) 63 64
[18] S Wawrinka (SUI) d [Q] W Odesnik (USA) 36 62 61
[20] A Seppi (ITA) d [Q] D Brands (GER) 75 64
B Paire (FRA) d [21] P Kohlschreiber (GER) 64 62
[24] J Janowicz (POL) d D Nalbandian (ARG) 76(4) 46 63
[27] F Mayer (GER) d D Goffin (BEL) 64 62
I Dodig (CRO) d [28] J Benneteau (FRA) 64 62
J Nieminen (FIN) d [29] F Verdasco (ESP) 61 60
L Mayer (ARG) d [30] M Youzhny (RUS) 62 63

Men's
Doubles - First Round
[2] M Granollers (ESP) / M Lopez (ESP) d N Almagro (ESP) / P Petzschner (GER) 62 62
F Lopez (ESP) / M Raonic (CAN) d [3] M Bhupathi (IND) / D Nestor (CAN) 64 76(4)
[WC] A Murray (GBR) / J Murray (GBR) d [5] R Lindstedt (SWE) / N Zimonjic (SRB) 64 46 10-4
S Gonzalez (MEX) / S Lipsky (USA) d [Alt] F Fognini (ITA) / V Troicki (SRB) 64 64
[WC] J Blake (USA) / M Fish (USA) d D Marrero (ESP) / F Verdasco (ESP) 64 64
C Fleming (GBR) / P Hanley (AUS) d T Haas (GER) / X Malisse (BEL) 64 76(4)

Women's
Singles - Second Round
[1] V Azarenka (BLR) d D Hantuchova (SVK) 64 61
[4] A Kerber (GER) d I Begu (ROU) 63 62
[7] S Stosur (AUS) d [WC] M Keys (USA) 63 64
[8] C Wozniacki (DEN) d A Cornet (FRA) 64 36 63
[10] N Petrova (RUS) d [LL] S Voegele (SUI) 62 63
[11] A Ivanovic (SRB) d [WC] T Townsend (USA) 61 62
U Radwanska (POL) d [15] S Stephens (USA) 63 64
M Rybarikova (SVK) d [16] L Safarova (CZE) 62 46 62
[Q] G Muguruza (ESP) d [17] E Makarova (RUS) 63 16 64
J Hampton (USA) d [20] S Hsieh (TPE) 63 63
[21] J Goerges (GER) d S Arvidsson (SWE) 63 63
[24] M Barthel (GER) d K Bertens (NED) 61 64
[28] K Flipkens (BEL) d M Niculescu (ROU) 46 64 63
[29] E Vesnina (RUS) d [WC] K Date-Krumm (JPN) 36 75 61
[30] Y Wickmayer (BEL) d [Q] M Lucic-Baroni (CRO) 36 63 62
[32] S Peng (CHN) d A Dulgheru (ROU) 60 46 63

Women's
Doubles - Second Round
S Hsieh (TPE) / S Peng (CHN) d [1] S Errani (ITA) / R Vinci (ITA) 62 63
V Dushevina (RUS) / A Panova (RUS) d [2] A Hlavackova (CZE) / L Hradecka (CZE) 64 76(4)

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