Young Guns On The Rise
This week New Zealand tennis fans will get the chance to see many new superstars in the making.
The one creating the most buzz right now is an Argentine, wildcard Juan Martin del Potro. As the youngest player in 2006 to finish the year rated in the Top 100, the recently turned 18-year-old scored upset wins over heavyweights such as Andrei Pavel, Juan Ignacio Chela, Robbie Ginepri and Carlos Moya. He reached quarterfinals in Umag and Basel.
He is tall at 1.96m (6’5” on the old scale) and is rated very highly by his ATP seniors who respect his power and shotmaking ability. His flamboyant manner matches a confidence in his own ability. As this temperament seems to suit the Latin players, he seems bred to the purple.
Although his best results have been on clay, including Challenger wins in Spain and Mexico, he rates hard court as his best surface.
His father Daniel was a highly regarded rugby player in Argentina, but with Juan Martin follows soccer more closely, his favourite teams being Juventus and Boca Juniors.
Two other young players will be worth studying closely for future reference. Frenchman Gael Monfils is 20, while Spain’s Nicolas Almagro and Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka are 21. Monfils finished 2006 ranked 46 but was as high as 23 in June, Almagro finished the year in his highest ever position of 32, and Wawrinka finished ranked 30.
Del Potro has not climbed quite so high yet, currently at 91 with 82 being his peak (October), but watch this space.
ACTION ON THE OUTSIDE:
The action is also on the outside courts today at the Heineken Open and that’s the beauty of tennis is that it’s not how highly opponents are ranked, it’s how evenly matched they are.
Also, the final round of qualifying always features players who have two matches already under their belt, whereas the centre court regulars are hitting their first shots in anger and often take time to find their rhythm.
Court 4 action begins with American Robert Kendrick (ranked 109) taking on Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ranked 69). The Spanish player missed out by one place on making the main draw, but won’t be taking Kendrick lightly. They are followed by Czech Lukas Rosol and German Simon Greul slugging it out. Greul is ranked 83, a whopping 205 places higher than Rosol, but the Czech has been middling the ball beautifully and will be very hungry.
The second match on Court 6 features Korean Woong-Sun Jun and Slovak Luka Gregorc. Neither have cracked the top 100 yet, but where better than Auckland to get some early 2007 momentum?
Top seed Tommy Robredo’s first hit-out is against compatriot Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo in the first centre court match of the evening, but the big interest on day one will be the rematch of 2006’s classic semifinal between defending champion Jarkko Nieminen of Finland and popular Belgian Olivier Rochus (above).
After that Spanish veteran Alberto Martin takes on young Frenchman Gael Monfils. Monfils will not change his relaxed pre-match routine, at 46 being ranked 16 places above his Spanish opponent.
“I don’t really think about the match,” he says. “I prefer to be relaxed.” Monfils is usually seen before play with his earphones on. “I like R & B, rap and Caribbean and French music.
TEST FOR ALL:
The 2007 Heineken Open will, as usual, be a severe test for the top flight pros against some precociously talented up-and-comers.
Many ATP veterans look to make a good start to their season at the Heineken Open and keep coming back year after year. The Rebound Ace surface matches the court in Melbourne and the cities are culturally quite similar, so players with grand slam ambitions see Auckland as the ideal preparation.
But it has proved just as much a graveyard for highly-ranked players as it has a happy hunting ground. Often the veterans are tipped up by qualifiers and youngsters.
The 2005 tournament saw Spain’s Rafael Nadal’s entry to the big time. He cut a sizzling track through many older opponents before Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia ended his run in the final.
Hrbaty will be hoping to start 2007 off better than 2006, when his early exit surprised many. He is seeded fifth, one place below defending champion Jarkko Nieminen (pictured) of Finland, and both men will have to watch the newcomers just as closely as they do the players whose threats they are more familiar with. When the heat goes on, reputations mean little.
For more details please contact:
Graham Pearce – Heineken Open tournament director – 021 675 005
Or
Dave Worsley – Heineken Open media manager – 021 365 224
