NOVAK DJOKOVIC LOOKS TO MAKE A PUSH AT BNP PARIBAS OPEN

Djokovic to make a strong push at BNP PARIBAS OPEN

By: Jawad Bisharat

Novak Djokovic looks to make a strong push at BNP Paribas Open.

Recently working with coach Radek Stepanek and Andre Agassi, the pressure is on for Novak to have a good performance at this weeks BNP Paribas Open.

The draw is missing one very notable name in Rafael Nadal. Nadal is out with a hip injury and his return to the tour is still unknown.

Novak himself is returning from an elbow injury that sidelined him for the last 5 months of 2017. His return at the Australian Open was uneventful, losing in the round of 16 to up and comer Chung Hyeon of south Korea.

In watching Novak on the practice court today, his strokes looked like the Novak we all know and love, however he didn't seem well. Consistently blowing his nose and asking for a towel, Novak looked as if he was fighting off a cold. Lets hope it is nothing too serious and he is able to give his best effort this week.

Federer comes off his defense of his Australian Open title and is the favorite to take the BNP Paribas Open although there are several players who have a legitimate shot at stopping Federer's run. Stay tuned for exclusive pic, videos and behind the scenes look at the BNP Paribas Open.

Nadal, Djokovic Lead Stacked Field In Acapulco

Nadal, Djokovic Lead Stacked Field In Acapulco 

ATP Staff

Four members of the Top 10 in the Emirates ATP Rankings are appearing at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, in what is shaping to be a thrilling week in Acapulco. It is a historic field for the ATP World Tour 500 event, with Top 10 stalwarts Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Marin Cilic and Dominic Thiem leading the pack, alongside the likes of Juan Martin del Potro, David Goffin and Nick Kyrgios.

If Djokovic and Nadal cross paths in Saturday's championship, it would be an unprecedented 50th FedEx ATP Head2Head encounter between the two stars, their first since the Internazionali BNL d'Italia quarter-finals last year. The Spaniard leads a talented bottom half of the draw that also features third seed Cilic, Delray Beach Open champion Jack Sock and #NextGenATP stars Borna Coric and Ernesto Escobedo.

Nadal, who will look to carry the momentum from a runner-up showing at the Australian Open, will be seeking his third title in Acapulco, having triumphed when it was held on clay in 2005 (d. Montanes) and in 2013 (d. Ferrer). He opens against a red-hot Mischa Zverev in a rematch of their encounter at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp last month, won by Nadal 6-1, 6-1.

In another enticing first-round affair, World No. 7 Cilic faces Argentina Open champion Alexandr Dolgopolov. "It's going to be extremely exciting with a lot of great players," said the Croatian. "The crowd in Mexico really deserves to have such a great tournament and I'm just hoping I can produce some good tennis and enjoy the week. It's in a great week this year, just prior to Indian Wells, and everyone loves it here.

Competing in his first tournament since a surprise second-round exit at the Australian Open, World No. 2 Djokovic is the first Top 2 player to enter Acapulco since No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten won the title in 2001. The late addition took a wild card into the draw on Thursday and could face del Potro in what would be a blockbuster second-round encounter. The Serbian, who is making his debut, will have to get through Slovakia's Martin Klizan in the first round on Tuesday. Del Potro opens against a qualifier or lucky loser.

Also in Djokovic's half of the draw is fourth seed and defending champion Thiem, who is coming off a title run on the clay of Rio de Janeiro, fifth seed Goffin, sixth seed Kyrgios and 2016 runner-up Bernard Tomic. Thiem and Goffin could meet in the quarter-finals.

Main draw action in Acapulco gets underway on Monday. Four qualifying spots remain up for grabs in Sunday's final round, with #NextGenATP stars Stefan Kozlov, Jared Donaldson, Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz all on the schedule, along with Memphis Open champion Ryan Harrison.

BNP Paribas Open day 4

Day 4 at BNP Paribas Open has the top players out in the sun

Exclusive picture by Jawad Bisharat 

Novak Has Routine Win in Dubai

Novak Djokovic has routine win in Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships

By Jawad Bisharat          2/25/15

As easily predicted Novak Djokovic dismantled Andrey Golubev 6-1, 6-2 in just over an hour at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships today.

Djokovic increased his first serve percentage to 61% from 50% just a day prior. However he only hit 1 ace in his routine win and quest for 5th Dubai title.

“Having one match under my belt before today's encounter helped me to feel a bit more comfortable to move around on the court quicker, and I tried to take away the time from my opponent today,” said Djokovic. “It was just a much better performance than yesterday. Hopefully I can improve as the tournament progresses.”

Novak will face qualifier Marsel Ilhan who upset the left handed Spaniard and #6 seed Feliciano Lopez. Lopez admittedly came into the tournament under the weather...or lets hope that was the reason he was upset by the #104th player in the world. 

Federer, Murray and Berdych also move on to the QF's.

Although I am a definite fan of Marcus Baghdatis, I am surprised and disappointed by how he ended his match today. Who retires from a match during a 3rd set tiebreaker? This is one I have never seen before in my 35 years of watching tennis. Why not just play a few more points and give your opponent the win?? He didn't break his ankle, he had cramps, suck it up for 2 more minutes Marcus, you're better than that. 

Djokovic Overcomes Pospisil in Dubai

Djokovic Overcomes Pospisil in Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships

By Jawad Bisharat  2/24/15 

Number 1 player in the world Novak Djokovic has a standard 6-4 6-4 victory over Vasek Pospisil in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship. 

Although Novak served at only 50% first serve percentage he won 78% of those points and 60% of second serve points which proved to be enough to secure the match. 

Pospisil was only able to win 33% of his second serve points. This puts a lot of pressure on your service game and and against the best returner in the world you have a slim chance of winning a set. As the old adage says "you're only as good as your second serve".

"I'm still looking for that rhythm on the court," said Novak following the match. "But I managed to stay mentally tough. I was patient in rallies, I thought. As soon as we get through the rally, I have a better chance of winning. He's a very flashy player, aggressive, goes after his shots."

Next up for Djokovic is Andrey Golubev who is currently ranked #107 in the ATP ranking but was as high as #33 in the world back in 2010. Golubev has proven he can compete with the best in the world when he defeated #3 Stan Wawrinka in Davis Cup QF match in 2014.

In other notible matches, F. Lopez, Andy Murray and F. Verdasco all move on to 2nd round. 

Twitter: @1stserveace

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. 

Busy day at the BNP Paribas Open- Match previews

Wednesday is turning out to be a great day for matches and the BNP Paribas Open IN Indian Wells, CA.

Starting off the day is big serving Canadian Milos Raonic vs Andy Murray. Andy is coming off two tough matches that took him into 3 sets. Although in his press conference he said his back feels good and he is physically back in shape, I don't see the same Andy Murray on court. He doesn't appear to have much on his shots and leaving them hanging in the mid court. Lets be honest, he did everything he could to lose the match on Monday except actually lose! The unknown Vasely gave Andy all he could handle but couldn't close it out during the business end of the match.

Look for Raonic to lean on his serve today and take it to Andy. A Raonic win today would not be an upset as Andy is still building his match toughness after his long layoff during the winter where he underwent back surgery.

Everyone's new favorite players to watch is Stan Wawrinka. Today he takes on another big server in Kevin Anderson. Kevin who stands 6'8" posseses one of tennis's biggest serves and can hit big from both sides. Losing to Dimitrov in 3 sets in the finals at Acopluco, Kevin is playing the best tennis of his life. Currently ranked #18 in the world he could could Stan a run for his Money.

Stan on the otherhand is definitly playing his best tennis and dismissed the talented Italian, Seppi, on Monday  6-0 6-2. Stans is undefeated in 2014 and his massive strokes are proving too much for the player on the other side of the net.

Watching Stan practice with Rafa Nadal last week, he seemed to continue where he left off at the Australian Open. Winning the majority of the points during the practice match it left Rafa shaking his head.

Roger Federer and Tommy Haas, a couple of veterens and good friends, take the court today for their quarterfinal match. Federer holds a 12-3 record over Haas head to head. However, Haas is not affraid of Federer and has proved he can give him a match. Haas nearly upended Federer's Championship run at the French Open in 2009 having been up 2 sets to none in that match to only see Federer come back to win and continue on to his first and only French Open Title.

Other matches on the mens side

Marin Cilic vs Novak Djokovic - Upset Alert!! 
Alexandr Dolgopolov vs Fabio Fognini
Fernando Verdasco vs John Isner
Feliciano Lopez vs Julian Benneteau

Pictures from BNP Paribas Open

Novak doing a series of stretching prior to his practice session.

Andy Murray showing off his soccer skills at the BNP Paribas Open. 

Djokovic eliminates Troicki in Dubai

Djokovic, Del Potro winners in

Dubai Duty Free Tennis 

Championships

By Jawad Bisharat

Two Serbians took center stage today at the Dubai 

duty-free tennis championships. 

Novak Djokovic and Victor Troicki played a 2 set match that lasted 1:07. Troicki's came into the match 

ranked # 44 in the world and a 1-12 record against his countryman Novak Djokovic. 

Djokovic who hit 6 aces controlled the match from the beginning and gave Troicki very little 

room to breath. Djokovic's consistent play and unmatchable defense helped seal the first 

set 6-1.

Troicki however made the 2nd set more competitive when there was a slight kink in Djokovic's 

armor at 4-3 serving. Troicki broke Djokovic to level the set at 4-4. But in the end Djokovic 

proved too tough as he always does to break Troicki right back and served out the match to 

win 6-1 6-4.

Other results included Juan Martin Del Potro winning a very tight 3rd set tiebreaker over 

Marcos Baghdatis 4-6 6-4 7-6(4). And in a surprising result Nikolay Davydenko took out 

Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 6-0 7-5.

For scores click the "live scores" tab above. 

Catch all the action by visiting our live scoring page above. 

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Federer wants more drug testing in tennis

BBC:

Roger Federer wants more drug testing in tennis

Roger Federer wants biological passports similar to those used in cycling to be introduced to detect doping in tennis.

The Wimbledon champion reiterated his recent claims that blood tests are less frequent than earlier in his career.

Continue reading the main story

“There also will be more funding needed to make all the tests possible”

Roger Federer Tennis great

"A blood passport will be necessary as some substances can't be discovered right now," said the 31-year-old.

"But there also should be more blood tests and out of competition controls in tennis."

World number one Novak Djokovic recently complained that the number of tests he has undergone fell in 2012 from the previous year, while Andy Murray called for more money to be spent on testing procedures.

The International Tennis Federation carried out a total of 131 blood tests in and out competition in 2011 - the most recent year for which figures are available - alongside 2,019 urine tests.

Cycling's governing body, the UCI, introduced biological passports in 2008 to check blood samples against a rider's original blood profile to detect any subsequent doping.

"I didn't get tested on blood after the Australian Open and I told the responsible people over there that it was a big surprise for me," added Federer, who has won a record 17 Grand Slam titles.

"But there also will be more funding needed to make all the tests possible and the Grand Slam tournaments should help to finance that as it is in their best interest to keep the sport clean and credible." 

Davis Cup takes a back seat to the Super Bowl

Davis Cup takes back seat to Super Bowl
By Jawad Bisharat

If any of you were watching Sam Querrey seal the deal for team U.S.A over Brazil yesterday you would have noticed something interesting...the stands were a ghost town.

Look I get it, Football is the #1 watched sport in the U.S. and is crushing everything in its sights. Over 120 million people watched the Super Bowl yesterday. Davis Cup didn't have a chance like Canada didn't have a chance over Spain :)

How do you expect Davis Cup to compete with that?? Sad truth is it can't. But nor can baseball, NBA and MLS. Did ESPN talk about anything else in the world of Sports yesterday?

Can you blame the town of Jacksonville? Brad Gilbert wasn't too happy about it in his Twitter posts. He had some ideas about separating ticket sales for each day instead of the required 3 days. But we all know nothing would have helped yesterday. I mean it's Super Bowl Sunday! So unless your were the final episode of Mash in 1983 you didn't have a chance.

I'm sure we all felt bad for the players but I know they get it.
I once sat with Andy Roddick for breakfast and all he talked about was Pro and College football. Fact is I know a few of the players were wishing for a quick finish to Sam's match for more reason then just the victory.  

  Luckily for all no 5th set. Sam was able to dismiss Alves just in time for the start of the Super Bowl. I'm sure the players and all 30 people in the stands were happy about that.

Up next is Serbia...hopefully with a full stadium and without Djokovic!



More Davis Cup photos here: http://www.daviscup.com/en/photos/galleries.aspx

First Saturday at BNP Paribas

First Saturday at the BNP Paribas Open is a good one with Roddick, Berdich, Djokovic and Murray all in action.
Roddick just sqeeked out his match against Kubot who served for the match in the 2nd set.
Berdich lost the first set and now up 4-2 in the 3rd.

Ginepri on his comeback up a break against Wawrinka but this is going to be a tough match for Robby to win. 

Novak set to come onto court now to face Golubev. Other notable players currently in action Sam Querry vs Almagro just getting under way.

Little lesson below. Look how low Berdich gets on his volley. Bending from the knees not the waist.
Also on his forehand. Notice his left hand tucked close to his body. This shuts down the body and allows the racket to swing freely around without pulling off your shot.

Whats harder, running a marathon or playing 5 set to win the AU Open?

I have always said that tennis does not get the respect it deserves for being one of the most physically demanding professional sports one can play. Last year I was speaking with a baseball coach who had never seen a professional tennis match. "tennis is hard" he asked. This coming from a baseball player?? A sport where a hang nail can sideline you for a week. Luckily the French Open was starting the next week and I said, do me a favor and watch one match, only then will you understand.

Thankfully our sport has finals like the one we had last week at the Australian Open that went 6 hours and 5 sets. I was getting calls and texts from all my non-tennis fan friends asking "did you see that match!!". This final definitely changed a few minds about the demands of men's pro tennis and hopefully gained a few new fans at the same time.

But lets analyze this, what other sport puts 2 men through such agony that they can't stand through the trophy presentation? Boxing or MMA? OK I'll give you that one, although Nadal's forehand might feel like a punch in the face, fact is you actually can't get KO'd in a tennis match. Your ego can be badly bruised but no brain damage usually occurs!

But seriously, running a marathon? The pro's run those in their sleep barefoot. Marathons have a starting point and finish line. The runners are not reacting to the actions of another, their fate is in their hands, or feet if you will.

But lets take a marathon as an example. 26.2 miles run by a pro in about 2 hours.
Nadal and Djokovic had run 29 miles combined at 2-2 in the 5th set. This means by the end of the match each player would have run approx. 16 miles. Yes that's 16 miles of side to side sprints while at the same time stopping to hit a ball traveling at 70MPH and kicking off the court like and angry donkey.
Keep in mind each player had run approximitly13 miles just 2 nights before in their prior matches. Hard to determine the exact distance but using some basic math I estimate in the 7 matches needed to win a major, the finalist will run over 60 miles in the 2 week event. Impressive at every level. I'm not trying to get people to like tennis just respect it.

http://www.firstserveace.com/

Could 1 point really have changed the outcome?

Can 1 point really change the outcome of a 6 hour match? I believe so. It might sound crazy that one swing of the racket can determine the winner of a 5 set 6 hour match but I believe that was the case in the Australian Open Men's Final.
Rafa Nadal was up a break 30-15 serving in the 5th set when he had an easy open court backhand put away. He pulled the shot just wide making the score 30-30 as opposed to 40-15. Anyone that play tennis knows this is a big difference. Nadal ended up giving back the break and later losing the match to Djokovic. Although it may never be mentioned that one swing of the racket could have changed the outcome of what in my opinion was one of the most hard fought matches I have ever witnessed.

Remember Federer's drop shot at set point in the French Open Final last year? Roger's shot was out by 1 inch keeping Rafa in the 1st set. Roger lost that game and the most important 1st set to, as we know, lose in 4 sets.
It is hard to know what points change a match until you watch a match the second time knowing who already won. You will see that 1 point here or 1 point there will set a road to the outcome.

Moral of the story, play every point like match point and dig out every game you can because you never know which point will determine the winner.