Tomic holds 3-1

CJ, I think they are of Croatian ancestry.

Totally off topic, but I wanted to talk about Russian tennis. Never in the history of tennis has one nation produced such outstanding players on both the ATP and WTA side. Even their second tier players are strong. There was this program called Anna's army and it was the story of the Russian revolution in tennis that was largely started by Kournikova and the players that followed her. I don't think she was a good player, the lack of a title doesn't support that. But her legacy is the players that followed her and were led by her, Demmy, Kuzzy, Sharapova. And this to me is even more impressive than any titles. The wave of outstanding player is very impressive for one country. Besides Kournikova, I think coming from a harsh, tough country produces a drive to succeed that isn't match in a easy and wealthy country like the US. How does Russia produce such greats and you compare this to the type of players the USTA is turning out.( Glatch, Mattex, Oudin, Isner and Quarry) There is just no comparison. You have to give credit where it is due and what Russia has done in tennis is tremendous and unmatch by any other country. In the time that I have been watching tennis, I think Sharapova is the best of them all and was capable of multi slams prior to her injuries. Chaki said it best, that the Russian players in the WTA owe alot to Kournikova. That and their own drive to succeed and be the best is quite a remarkable story. I would be lying if I said that with the exception of Vee and Ree who didn't come through the USTA, American tennis is very impressive. Roddick has done some great thing, but one great male player and two great females can't compare with what Russia has done in tennis. And the players that are coming out of the USTA (Glatch, Mattex, Oudin, Isner, and Quarry) aren't very impressive. To be honest, I would be lying if I were to say there was a slam winner there. Again, hats off to Russia. Unbelievable achievement in the sport.

His face is all pointy, like Djokovic's

Karen he reminds me of a younger Murray in ways

Tomic being of Croatian descent makes sense - explains why the crowd isn't getting too ... well, you know ... like it gets sometimes ...

Right now I don't think Cilic is looking like the future of anything much

Tomic was born in Germany, if I remember correctly

Yes Wikipedia says born Stuttgart of Croatian descent

And before anyone comes on to mention the problems of Swedish tennis, I'm well aware of the problems in that area. To that I would just add, Sweden doesn't have the money you see in the USTA.

Hmm. Tomic looks to be wearing Fed's kicks with Rafa's kit. Smart -- kid's got all his clothing mojo bases covered. :)

Nobody is asking the US for the next Evert or Serena, but where are the great prodigies coming out of the Evert or Boliteri academy. Why can't America produce a Davenport or Capriati or Austins?

Well anyone from Croatia,Stutgartt,Aussie can cheer for Bernard

He is a multi national lol!

Sblily I fainted when I saw Bernard in Rafa shorts

Cilic 5-3 2nd set

"Totally off topic, but I wanted to talk about Russian tennis. Never in the history of tennis has one nation produced such outstanding players on both the ATP and WTA side."

Man, do I wish I'd gone to sleep.

USA in the 60s and 70s with BJKing and Chris Evert (for starters on the women's side) and Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Jimmy Connors, and John McEnroe (on the men's side) totally blows Russia out of the water.

Australia in the 50s thru 70s with Margaret Smith Court and Evonne Goolagong (on the women's side) and Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall, Rod Laver, John Newcombe, and Tony Roche (on the men's side) blows Russia into outer space.

Spain in the 60s thru the present with Aranxta Sanchez Vicario and Conchita Martinez almost equals the number of majors won by Russian women, and the Spanish men (Santana, Orantes, Bruguera, Moya, Costa, Ferrero, and Rafa) have won far more majors than have the Russians).

Please, Morpheus, take me away from this nonsense.

"That and their own drive to succeed and be the best is quite a remarkable story. I would be lying if I said that with the exception of Vee and Ree who didn't come through the USTA, American tennis is very impressive. Roddick has done some great thing, but one great male player and two great females can't compare with what Russia has done in tennis." - SamanthaElin.

Uh Sampras and Evert (and many others), roll over and play dead, cuz the reigning analyst of TW has, in effect, declared that you never existed. There was only one "great male player and two great females" that were produced by the U.S.A.

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool that to speak and remove all doubt." Nobody seems to know the real author of this quote, but I felt compelled to write it.

Before I read any more pearls of wisdom, I'm off to work.

Cilic wins the 2nd set 6-3

1 set all now

Beranrd to serve first in the 3rd set,Tomics physical sense is falling a bit.Its Midnight here in Australia

Well I have to make my way to work... better late than never.

Let's see if Tomic can settle a bit after losing the lead in the second set and eventually the set.

Damn, my TC has gone. Ugh

Tomic breaks for 2 love
Hope he can consolidate and preserve the lead this time... ok really leaving now

Cilic gets broken,by some good ofense by Tomic

Tomic 2-0

Carnap, I mean't in this era, the last 5-7 years. Sampras and Evert DON'T belong in this era. Neither has played for a long time. Tennis is about the now and what is the USTA turning out NOW!! It's turning out the player I mention. Again, where are the RECENT prodigies???

Tomic holds

Tomic 3-0

Carnap and MSF, please give me the name of one American player, not counting Vee and Ree in the WTA that you feel can win a slam???

Cilic with easy fast service game

Tomic 3-1

Cilic with 2 b/points now

Rushed down the line shot by Cilic goes wide,

Again Marin with a f/hand that goes wide

30 all

beranrd with good 1st serve

pfft nets

deuce

Ad for Tomic,good serve,draws the error

Tomic holds

Tomic 4-1

Tomic remains steady,Cilic is over playing his shots,he is getting frustrated at times with the off pace again by Tomic

Cilic holds

Tomic 4-2

"Carnap, I mean't in this era, the last 5-7 years. Sampras and Evert DON'T belong in this era. Neither has played for a long time. Tennis is about the now and what is the USTA turning out NOW!! It's turning out the player I mention. Again, where are the RECENT prodigies???"

Samantha, when you start with "Never in the history of tennis..." it is no wonder you are misunderstood.

hello to whoever is still out there
aaarrrgggghhh, had to follow the SB at work during last nights action

"That and their own drive to succeed and be the best is quite a remarkable story. I would be lying if I said that with the exception of Vee and Ree who didn't come through the USTA, American tennis is very impressive. Roddick has done some great thing, but one great male player and two great females can't compare with what Russia has done in tennis." - SamanthaElin.

one family from the US has produced more GS titles in the last 10 years than all of the Russians.
don't get me wrong the Russians are great, but maybe there is a missing component to being top athletes in their sport that tennis players are missing out on by training outside of Russia...the most successful Russian(Sharapova) trained in the US, but after all is said and done one wonders if she will be the most prolific Russian slam winner.
Russians usually are steely competitors in every sport. when was the last time anyone saw a Russian gymnast or athlete in another sport , that displays the headcasery that we have seen in tennis, particularly womens tennis.

bernard too flat footed on that f/hand,no wonder you netted the shot

Cilic breaks,we back on serve in the 3rd set

I think Samantha Elin might of had a fight with her boy friend

Terrific Beranrd with a off pace f/hand

Great point by Tomic.

Ajde, Marinko! I didn't wake up at 5:00 am to see you lose!

Beranrd has now 2 b/points

Yello Fuzzy, please note that I was careful to exclude Vee and Ree because I'm well aware of their achievement. My question again is besides Vee and Ree, what other American women can win a slam?? Nobody answered the question, because there are none!

Bernard with a b/point

Beranrd challenges,though the ball was out,wasted challenge Bernard

Cilic with a great first serve,gets the add

Bernard with a great return,Cilic nets

Deuce

Cilci wittwo great 1st serves and survies 2 b/points

Cilic holds 4games all

Samantha Elin
please note that I was careful to exclude Vee and Ree because I'm well aware of their achievement. My question again is besides Vee and Ree, what other American women can win a slam??

er...uuummm...er....nobody..ok!
if Bollettieri and other american tennis gurus would stop recruiting blondes from Eastern Europe and maybe do some scouting in american high schools, maybe we would find some talent...its out there!

Beranrd holds serve,Marin is still unable to handle the off pace

Tomic 5-4

Samantha, ok, here's an answer (since you ask for one).

From

"Never in the history of tennis has one nation produced such outstanding players on both the ATP and WTA side"

to

"Besides Vee and Ree, what other American women can win a slam??"

there seems to be a gap of historic proportions (and geographic and sexual proportions too).

BTW, I now understand the term "backpedaling" much better. Thanks for improving my English.

Let me try the question again, with the exception of Vee and Ree, is there one American women who can win a slam? Please name that person.

I have a better version.
With the exception of Russian people, is there any Russian that can play tennis?

(name that person)

Madison Keys - at 15 years old she is already serving at over 110 mph. Has a fantastic ground game and is already very poised and mature for her age.

Kwaku, no backpedaling, read my original post, it clearly excludes Vee and Ree. But still your post didn't name one for the simple fact there is none. Oh, I forgot Oudin!

30 all now on Cilic serve

Beranrd with a set point

Beranrd looking at a 2nd serve

Yes Aussie,Aussie,Aussie,Oi,Oi,Oi,

Tomic 6-4 3rd set and 2 sets to 1

I am loving this kid,when he gets better movement.Watch out.

I get to the office to see young Tomic took the third set!!
Keep it up boy!

"I think of the two Belgians, Kim may be the one who doesn't make it to the quarters. She's going to have a tough match against Kuznetsova in the fourth round. Henin's draw is a little easier to the quarters, provided she gets her rest. "

Karin1492,
I would not say that 'cuz while Kim will play Svetlana in R16, Justine would be playing Yanina. Yanina clobbered Flavia in the second set after winning the first set in the tiebreaker where she started to take control of the match. Yanina is not a good matchup for Flavia as Yanina won their last 3 meetings. Hopefully, those 2 matchups plus a Jelena/Marion R16 in the bottom half will be very interesting. Hopefully, Makiri can make a R16 date with Dinara.

went to sleep thinking Marin had this handled. apparently all that hyping up people weere piling on him last weeekend jinxed him. down 2 sets to 1 vs world number 289? n s, sherlock. tsk tsk. C'mon Marin!

tfactor I am soo impressed,Tomic has just been soo steady for a 17 year old boy

In addition on the men's side, the US has young Ryan Harrison who has been doing remarkably well playing challengers and futures. Has a very good serve and good groundies. It will take time but Rome was not built in a day and it takes years to develop talent. One of the problems that Russia has is that they are churning out players by the dozens but the question to be asked is how are they. Most of them come with deficiencies in their game that are usually taken advtange of after they have been on Tour for awhile. I listened to an interview once about Russians and their game plans and the question was asked as to why Russians seem to have so much trouble serving. The answer was that the Russian tennis academies spend more time teaching ground strokes than they do the serve. The Americans on the other hand do the polar opposite, they teach the serve and how to use it as a weapon and groundies come next. It is all well and good to have a whole lot of players in a particular discipline but when said players are not posting good numbers, then after awhile you have to wonder whether the programme that you have is actually effective.

Aussiemarg,
See my finalist is in huge trouble as the Aussie wonder kid who is in a fight with the original Come On is leading 2 sets to 1. Also, I see AO has continued its tradition of tight 5 set affairs on the ATP. ESPN2 commies, before I left for the day job, was praising James for his efforts. Elena got eliminated in the 2nd round for the 2nd Slam in a row(Melanie at USO and Justine at AO)

TWibe,
Thanks for the match call on Juan Martin/James, Elena/Justine, and other matches played.

Great fight by Tomic, will be happy if he wins this.
Samantha, I don't follow the ATP much. You are probably right, after all...
I have to go.

Tomic to serve 1st in the 4th set

Cilic gets break

Cilic 1-0 4th set

Master Ace I wish I could have seen the mens match.Though I was exhausted watching the womans match which was a great display of all court play by both players.

Cilic consolidates his break

2-0

From being down love 30 on his serve

Tomic holds serve

Cilic 2-1

Hmm this Tomic kid is having quite a good time recently huh? Look like he's not intimidated by the big stage which is way cool ... warming to him, despite the nutty Aussie fans

Hi everyone congrats to Juanma Del Potro and his fans for all the heart, talent and determination he showed in his win over an on fire Blake. I saw the whole match and it was worth not sleeping yesterday night. Unfortunately, as Henin Dementieva was being played at the same time I could not watch this match. I'll check the highlights in youtube. All credit to Henin for fighting so hard and showing all her talent so early on her comeback.

HEY EVERYONE!!!!!!! I haven't been on since.... EVER!!! Aaaah feels so good to be posting on TW again.... how is everybody?!?!?!

I'm so glad Delpo pulled through... was in school and had limited access to the net =O

P.S.: Anyone have a stream for Tomic/Cilic????? =D

Maha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

try fromsport.com

linex From what I read seeing my channel was covering the henin match.Del Potro was all heart in his win.

AM,
Yes, regardless of what happens here this is a great performance by him. I can see much potential there and he's still growing and developing.

Maha Good to see you!!!!!

Cilic gets a double break 4-1

Tomic to me now is physically down,he was going for quick drop shots,to get out of the point quickly and thus forcing errors in his game

Maha,
Hello, I see you still got the Roger spirit. Where have you been lately?

Aussiemarg,
Read the stats on Elena and Justine and their numbers (except for 43 winners by Justine) are not good. 107 UFEs, 15 DFs, 13 for 34 on BP conversions, 2 aces, Elena with a 43% on positive points while Justine ended at 54%. I am guessing that this match was one where both ladies were good tracking balls down that is normally a winner.

Master Ace Justine's new serve needs more practice,her 2nd serve??her ball toss at times went too far forward and thus d/fault occurred.Though still her defense and her mental game got over over the line on big points.

Cilic 5-1

Tomic serving,deuce now,gets the add

Tomic holds

Cilic 5-2 and will serve for the 4th set

Good morning, everyone...
Congrats to Henin fans, I'm sad about Lena... bad draw...

Well, good that Safina went through in straight sets... and Kleybs surprised me....

Rezai took me out of SP, so no more worries about forgetting to make my pick :-))

For Tomic, getting broken in the 1st game after a euphoric break-through in the 3rd set is likely lack of experience. I hope he wins, but realistically I doubt he will even up 2 sets to 1. Even if he wins this match, the future expectation from this 17 year old from the tennis starved public in Australia will not help, but he seems mature enough to handle it.

In spite of the exceptional and rare young male tennis talent (chang, nadal, borg, agassi, becker, hewitt, wilander etc) many greats develop a bit later in their teens or early 20s (sampras, federer, safin, rafter, lendl, courier, edberg etc).

I expect we will see much more improvement in the next couple of years with physical / emotional maturity and physical development.

I hope his father removes himself from the camp as he said he would and lets him develop on his own with independant coaching etc..

My 2c.

Cilic 6-2 4th set

2 sets all

going into a 5th set

Sokol,
Commies about Elena but she tried :)
I was really impressed by Safina. The best attitude I've seen from her in a long time. I hope she keeps it up.

I hope young Tomic has something left in the tank for the fifth.

Mina!!!! Thanks.... good to see you on TW, even though facebook provides frequent communication ;)

Aussiemarg!!!! I hope you're good and your cat(s) are doing well!!! =D

Master Ace... haha I sure do!!! =P I've been going crazy with college applications!!! All done and dusted now so nothing I can do but wait and see till the end of March! Lol.

Yayyyy Cilic 5-2!!!

a Maha sighting? *loves* :)

Impressed with Henin, sad for Dementieva.

I wish Tomic had fought a bit harder at the end of that fourth set; he seemed to give it up for lost a bit.

I was checking out the stats of the Justine Elena match, over 100 errors in a 2 set match! yipes! Justine will show us how tough she really is, if she can keep winning and clean up her game.
Demi really missed a big chance to take her momentum from winning last week and use it to make her way into the final,at least.

Tomic to serve 1st in the 5th set

Good hold for tomic

1-0

Anna Kournikova was brought over to Bolletieri at the age of 12, if I remember correctly - as I remember seeing the first reports about this "phenom." Clearly, without winning a single title, her tennis talent was over-rated; but "Uncle Nick" and her mother knew they had a pretty baby on their hands, who'd make loads of money off her blond hair and long legs. Not all of her so-called "Army" can compete on that level.

OK, can't believe I've wasted time here - and Maha, ESPN360.com is brilliant for all-court coverage, at the moment down to just the one match.

Hello jewell!!!!! Haha I was missing y'all!

Fifth set... aaaghh I hope Cilic makes it. He can lose to Roger or Delpo later. =P

Jewell Tomic physical game went down,remember he is only 17,he just saved his energy for the 5th set,which any player would do,given he was down a double break

MA, correct on the Lena/Justine match being a retrieveathon. Justine's serving was Lena like.

Hi Jewell :)

I think the real missed opportunity for Tomic was in that second set when he was up a break but then again I don't want to take any credit away from Cilic either.

At this stage of the match Cilic's experience should give him an edge, I think.

Cilic holds

1 game all 5th set

yes, I don't know, sometimes I feel that can backfire a bit? Also, has Tomic ever played a 5th set? It seems like giving a lot of momentum to Cilic.

I'd like to see Tomic win, just for fun. :)

Bernard, for some reason, reminds me of Nole.

Wowser down the line shot from Tomic

Ahh bernard your footwork caught you out there.

beranrd is like Murray???

Gee he has soo much off pace in his shots,he has been frustrating Cilic all night

Hiya Tfactor!

any news on JCF? I am still confounded by the Dodig match.

Wowser shot again Beranrd you just thread that down the line

I see Samantha Ellin is discussing Russian tennis. I don't know you you read Sveta's response to Shamil's compaint about her not playing in upcoming first round of Fedcup. She was talking that she doesn't feel like she owes anything to Russia Tennis Federation, most of the players had to find a way to "make it" on their own, some went to America, some went to Spain, they had to find their own financing, sponsors.

Don't get me wrong, there are great tennis academies for little kids and different programs for developing talents, but not very good conditions for professionals to train, so they have to move somewhere else at some point, Sveta mentioned. All that tennis "revolution" in Russia started with Eltsyn being a big fan of the sport and while he was in the office Tennis Federation received a lot support, and even then the players had not much support, but many academies opened and many coaches had an opportunity to work twith talented youth, but if you look at top Russian players they had to go somewhere else at some point. Can you imagine American kids at 12, 13 move somewhere in Europe on their own, to Spain, for example?

Also lately there is not much success on the men's side, which makes me sad. After Marat and Kolya there is no "big" player... I don't know how long Kolya would last, and what after that?
And now with players who have some potential are being "bought" by Kazakhstan :-), offering them financial support that Russian Tennis Federation can't provide, Korolev being that latest example and there are talks with Kuznetsov as well...
Russia needs to do something about it, they have great system for discovering young talents, but they have to change something to be able to provide normal conditions for them to improve their game and become top players...

Even though overall, of course, the results are amazing :-), but I think there could have been better results, especially on the men's side...

that's my view on the situation based on what I read in Russian press and hear players talk about.

Tomic 2-1

Hi all. What a performance by Tomic, whatever happens now.

And he saves a bp, followed by one of those whacky f/hands, then deuce again, then a fantastic down the line to end a long rally for ad, and Cilic ufe allows the kid to hold.

Jewell,
So am I and no I haven't seen any confirmation, just heard here and there that he was dealing with some injury issue.

"I was really impressed by Safina. The best attitude I've seen from her in a long time"

oh, that's encouraging....

John C Hi,yes when Tomic gets better movement watch out

sokol I was too impressed with our girl,she was being agressive and thinking out on court

Cilic holds

2 games all

"I was too impressed with our girl,she was being agressive and thinking out on court"

isn't that great, AM? this description offsets my sadness about Lena and being knocked out of SP by Rezai :-)) Go, Dina! I hope she continues...

Bernard keep try to get those free points with your serve

S/volley

You got sucked in then,tired poor shot Tomic